Sri Stuti

Sri D. Ramaswamy Ayyangar

This is Vedanta Desika’s Kanaka-dhaara-stavam. Lakshmi or Sri is reputedly the Goddess of Wealth. Sloka 16 refers to how She can shower wealth on Her votaries.

That apart, the importance of this Stotra lies in the emphasis it lays on the concept of Divya-Dampati (Divine Couple). Narayana and Sri together as a dvandvam (couple) are the ultimate Tattva or Reality, the most potent Upaaya or Means, and the Goal, or Purushartha, to be attained. Thus Divya-Dampati is the Tattva; Saranya-Dampati is the Hita; and Seshi-Dampati is the Purushartha. Sloka 9 posits this truth that not Narayana by Himself, nor Lakshmi by Herself, is to be sought after, but the two of them together (yuvAm dampatI nah daivatam). As many as seven slokas out of the 25 refer to the two of them together (slokas 5, 6, 7, 9, 16, 19, and 13). Where earlier acharyas who sung the praise of Lakshmi were inclined to put Lakshmi above the Lord or the Lord above Lakshmi, Desika studiedly maintains absolute equality among them.

Sloka 13, the central sloka in the stotra, celebrates the coronation of Lakshmi in the presence of the Lord. Only thereafter the devas and their chiefs together with their wives regained the rulership (which they had lost by curse) (14), by being the recipients of Lakshmi’s kataaksha-s (glances). All riches and wealth will vie with one another to go and stay where Lakshmi-kataaksha goes and settles (15)

The reference to the Lord at the beginning and at the end (1 and 24) as Madhuvijayi, a term by which Desika indicates Lord Srinivasa in the Hamsa Sandesa, and the name sarasija-nilayaa for Lakshmi are pointers to Padmavati Thayar of Tiruchanur (Tirupati) being praised in, and by this stotra. The opening words ‘maanaateeta’ meaning “exceeding bounds” will befit only Padmavati Thayar, who alone goes out in procession outside the temple precincts. This stotra, it is said here (25), has emerged out of guru bhakti. Without that the supremacy of Sri Tattva cannot be visualised.