Sri rudram

Sri Rudram is found in the Krishna Yajurveda, Taittariya Samhita along with its companion text Chamakam. Like all Vedic texts it is pleasing to the ear but confounding to the intellect. The melody and rhythm are unique and comfortable from the first listening, but once you dive into the meaning the problems arise! In some ways it helps to start with the understanding that these Vedic verses are the cognition of an ancient Rishi.

In Sanskrit 'rishi' means enlightened seer and this hymn is simply a record of what he saw. All of creation is a manifestation of three forces; creation, preservation, and destruction. The creation force is Brahma, preservation is Vishnu, and destruction is Rudra. So Sri Rudram is both recognition and praise for the vital place Rudra holds in creation. Imagine for a moment that you are a rishi and wish to record your vision of this force of nature.

Rudra has two forms, ghora or terrible form and Siva or auspicious form. Hence Rudra is one side and Siva the other side of the same coin. They are not two, but one. The Brahmana text which interprets the Rudram states: "Rudra is verily this fire". He has two forms one terrible, the other auspicious.

A Prayer is something that we place as our request or demand to our favourite deity. But a Salutation is something that we praise the attributes of our dearest lord and cherish those attributes in the form of bhakti.

This beautiful and unique vedic hymn is set in such a way that, it is not only a prayer to Lord Shiva but is also a beautiful rhythmic salutations (Namah:) that we offer to our dear lord Shiva.

‘Sri Rudram’ is treated as the celebrated portion of Yajurveda with the sacred Sivapanchakshari mantram (NamaSivaya) enshrined within it. It has got two portions called ‘Namakam’ & ‘Chamakam’ each containing 11 chapters (Anuvakams). Most of the chapters in the first portion end with the letter “namaha” while the ending letter of the second portion is "chame".

Unlike a sloka or stotram, for a Mantra, it needs special attention to its complex reciting rules like specific time duration to utter letters (dheergam, hrasvam, and plutam), different Intonations (Udata, Anudata, and Svarita) and meters referred as chandas and many such things.