Balagopalastuti

In the Hindu sacred literature, Sahasra-namas: the texts embodying literally “the Thousand Names” of a deity, constitute a genre in their own right. And Lalita-Sahasranama (LS) is a veritable classic in the traditional writings of the kind — a classic widely acknowledged for its lucidity, clarity and poetic excellence. A medieval work of unknown authorship eulogising Shakti: the Mother Goddess, this Sahasranama is not just a masterly exposition of Shri Lalita’s cult, but also sets out the deity’s diverse epithets — like, for instance, Kundalini, Nirguna, Saguna, Parashakti or Brahman — which continue to evoke reverence as mantras with ‘mystic powers’. Also included among these names are the goddess’s other panegyric descriptions that have come to have profound, esoteric connotations in tantric practices — epitomizing, thus, the fundamental tenets of tantrashastra. Here is a brilliant critical edition of Lalita-Sahasranama meticulously analysing, for the first time, each of Shri Lalita’s thousand names — by a variety of themes, like the Goddess’s conceptual representations, anthropomorphic forms, disposition, abodes, kinships/consorts, ritualistic worship, and her supremacy in pantheonic hierarchy. Also explaining and interpreting anew these thousand names on the basis of time-honoured commentaries, Dr. Joshi under-scores the high importance of Lalita-Sahasranama in philosophy, tantra, yoga, sahasranama literature, and rituals of various descriptions. The book includes the original Sanskrit text of LS, its romanised transliteration and, additionally, an Appendix listing Sri Lalita’s thousand names in the A-Z sequence.