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Mantra · Ruchi's eleven verses that drew the ancestors out of a blaze of light

Pitru Stotra

अर्चितानाममूर्तानां पितॄणां दीप्ततेजसाम् । नमस्यामि सदा तेषां ध्यानिनां दिव्यचक्षुषाम् ॥

Also known as Pitru Stotram

In Devanagari, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and English — with the meaning of every word, and the one syllable most people pronounce wrongly.

The Pitra Dosha Nivaran Homam, performed for youBook →

What the Pitru Stotra is

The Pitru Stotra of Ruchi, also printed as the Pitru Stotram, is the hymn in which Ruchi bows to the Pitris, the ancestors, in chapter 94 (verses 3 to 13) of the Markandeya Purana. It has eleven verses in the shloka metre. The first verse salutes the ancestors themselves: radiant, absorbed in meditation, with divine sight. Verses 2 to 5 make them the leaders of Indra and the gods, of Daksha, Marichi, the seven sages and Manu, of the sun, moon, stars, planets, wind, fire, sky, heaven and earth. Verse 6 names Kashyapa, Soma and Varuna; verse 7 the seven groups of ancestors in the seven worlds and Brahma. Verses 8 to 10 turn to Soma and Agni, since the universe, the hymn says, is made of fire and Soma. The last verse asks the receivers of svadha to be pleased. The Purana's own text opens 'amurtanam ca murtanam' (formless and embodied); the printed form opens 'architanam amurtanam' (worshipped and formless), as the Garuda Purana does.

Ruchi, the ascetic told to marry

The sage Markandeya tells the story across chapters 92 to 95, the account of the thirteenth Manu's age. Ruchi, a Prajapati, wandered the earth without a sacred fire, a house or a wife, eating once a day and sleeping wherever sunset found him. His own ancestors appeared and asked why he had not married: a householder, they said, repays the gods by uttering svaha and the ancestors by uttering svadha. Ruchi answered that possessions only bind. They replied that leaving prescribed duty undone binds just as surely, warned that both they and he would fall, and vanished like lamps struck by wind. Unable to find a bride, Ruchi spent a hundred divine years in austerity until Brahma appeared and told him to worship the Pitris. He praised them first with a longer hymn; as he did so a mass of light rose and filled the sky, and kneeling on the ground he sang these eleven verses. The ancestors stood before him among the flowers and scents he had offered and granted his wish for a wife. The next chapter relates that the apsara Pramlocha rose from a river with her daughter Malini; Ruchi married her on the riverbank, and their son became Raucya, the Manu named after his father.

The mantra, in six scripts

DevanagariSanskrit & Hindiअर्चितानाममूर्तानां पितॄणां दीप्ततेजसाम् । नमस्यामि सदा तेषां ध्यानिनां दिव्यचक्षुषाम् ॥

Tamilஅர்சிதாநாமமூர்தாநாம் பித்ரூணாம் தீப்ததேஜஸாம் । நமஸ்யாமி ஸதா தேஷாம் த்யாநிநாம் திவ்யசக்ஷுஷாம் ॥

Teluguఅర్చితానామమూర్తానాం పితౄణాం దీప్తతేజసామ్ । నమస్యామి సదా తేషాం ధ్యానినాం దివ్యచక్షుషామ్ ॥

Kannadaಅರ್ಚಿತಾನಾಮಮೂರ್ತಾನಾಂ ಪಿತೄಣಾಂ ದೀಪ್ತತೇಜಸಾಮ್ । ನಮಸ್ಯಾಮಿ ಸದಾ ತೇಷಾಂ ಧ್ಯಾನಿನಾಂ ದಿವ್ಯಚಕ್ಷುಷಾಮ್ ॥

Malayalamഅര്ചിതാനാമമൂര്താനാം പിതൄണാം ദീപ്തതേജസാമ് । നമസ്യാമി സദാ തേഷാം ധ്യാനിനാം ദിവ്യചക്ഷുഷാമ് ॥

EnglishRoman transliterationarcitānāmamūrtānāṃ pitṝṇāṃ dīptatejasām | namasyāmi sadā teṣāṃ dhyānināṃ divyacakṣuṣām ||

“Ruchi said: I always bow to the ancestors (Pitris), who are worshipped, who are without bodily form, and who shine with blazing radiance. I bow to them, the ones absorbed in meditation, whose sight is divine.”

अर्चितानाममूर्तानां: arcitānāmamūrtānāṃ — of the worshipped, the formless
पितॄणां: pitṝṇāṃ — of the ancestors
दीप्ततेजसाम्: dīptatejasām — of blazing radiance
नमस्यामि: namasyāmi — I bow
सदा: sadā — always
तेषां: teṣāṃ — to them
ध्यानिनां: dhyānināṃ — the meditating ones
दिव्यचक्षुषाम्: divyacakṣuṣām — of divine sight

Pitru Stotra lyrics in full

The eleven verses Ruchi sings in chapter 94 of the Markandeya Purana.

All 11 verses, in Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and English, each with its meaning. Choose a script:

Download the Pitru Stotra PDFAll 11 verses with their meanings, in Sanskrit. Free to print and keep.

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Verse 1

अर्चितानाममूर्तानां पितॄणां दीप्ततेजसाम् ।
नमस्यामि सदा तेषां ध्यानिनां दिव्यचक्षुषाम् ॥

Ruchi said: I always bow to the ancestors (Pitris), who are worshipped, who are without bodily form, and who shine with blazing radiance. I bow to them, the ones absorbed in meditation, whose sight is divine.

Verse 2

इन्द्रादीनां च नेतारो दक्षमारीचयोस्तथा ।
सप्तर्षीणां तथान्येषां तान्नमस्यामि कामदान् ॥

They are the leaders of Indra and the other gods, of Daksha and Marichi, of the seven sages and of others as well. I bow to those ancestors who grant what is wished for.

Verse 3

मन्वादीनां मुनीन्द्राणां सूर्याचन्द्रमसोस्तथा ।
तान्नमस्याम्यहं सर्वान्पितॄनप्सूदधावपि ॥

They lead Manu and the others, the foremost of sages, and the sun and the moon as well. I bow to all those ancestors, including those who dwell in the waters and in the ocean.

Verse 4

नक्षत्राणां ग्रहाणां च वाय्वग्न्योर्नभसस्तथा ।
द्यावापृथिव्योश्च तथा नमस्यामि कृताञ्जलिः ॥

With joined palms I bow to the ancestors who lead the stars and the planets, wind and fire, the sky, and heaven and earth.

Verse 5

देवर्षीणां जनितॄंश्च सर्वलोकनमस्कृतान् ।
अक्षय्यस्य सदा दातॄन्नमस्येऽहं कृताञ्जलिः ॥

With joined palms I bow to the begetters of the divine sages, who are honoured by all the worlds and who always give what never decays.

Verse 6

प्रजापतेः कश्यपाय सोमाय वरुणाय च ।
योगेश्वरेभ्यश्च सदा नमस्यामि कृताञ्जलिः ॥

With joined palms I always bow to the ancestors of Prajapati, to Kashyapa, to Soma and to Varuna, and to the masters of yoga.

Verse 7

नमो गणेभ्यः सप्तभ्यस्तथा लोकेषु सप्तसु ।
स्वयम्भुवे नमस्यामि ब्रह्मणे योगचक्षुषे ॥

Salutation to the seven groups of ancestors in the seven worlds. I bow to the self-born Brahma, whose eye is yoga.

Verse 8

सोमाधारान्पितृगणान्योगमूर्तिधरांस्तथा ।
नमस्यामि तथा सोमं पितरं जगतामहम् ॥

I bow to the hosts of ancestors who rest upon the moon and who bear forms made of yoga. I bow also to Soma, the father of the worlds.

Verse 9

अग्निरूपांस्तथैवान्यान्नमस्यामि पितॄनहम् ।
अग्नीषोममयं विश्वं यत एतदशेषतः ॥

In the same way I bow to the other ancestors, those whose form is fire, since this whole universe, without remainder, is made of fire and Soma.

Verse 10

ये तु तेजसि ये चैते सोमसूर्याग्निमूर्तयः ।
जगत्स्वरूपिणश्चैव तथा ब्रह्मस्वरूपिणः ॥

There are those who abide in radiance, those who take the forms of the moon, the sun and fire, those whose nature is the world, and those whose nature is Brahman.

Verse 11

तेभ्योऽखिलेभ्यो योगिभ्यः पितृभ्यो यतमानसः ।
नमो नमो नमस्ते मे प्रसीदन्तु स्वधाभुजः ॥

With a controlled mind I bow again and again to all those ancestors who are yogis. May the ancestors who receive the svadha offering be pleased with me.

The syllable people get wrong

In verse 1, pitṝṇāṃ (of the ancestors) has the long vocalic ṝ, not 'pitru' and not 'pitra': hold the ri sound twice as long, 'pi-trree-naam', with a retroflex ṇ made with the tongue curled back.

When the Pitru Stotra is chanted

Festival. Pitru Paksha and the annual shraddha

Questions

Chapter 94, verses 3 to 13. It sits in the section on the Raucya Manvantara, the age of the thirteenth Manu, which runs from chapter 91 to 95. The chapter's closing line in the Purana calls it 'Pitri-vara-pradana', the granting of the ancestors' boon, because after the hymn the Pitris appear and promise Ruchi a wife and a son. The verses before the hymn describe the light that rose as Ruchi knelt.

Largely, yes. The Achara Kanda of the Garuda Purana, chapter 89, retells Ruchi's story and gives the hymn in ten verses; it has no verse on the begetters of the divine sages, which is verse 5 here. Its chapter is titled the Pitru Stotra composed by Ruchi. A few words also differ between the two Puranas, for example 'namaste me' and 'namaste'stu' in the final verse.

In the verses after the hymn the ancestors themselves speak. They say it should be recited with devotion at the shraddha, standing before the Brahmins while they eat, and that a shraddha where it is heard becomes imperishable even if the rite was flawed by the wrong time or place, an unlearned priest or improper offerings. They also give the years of satisfaction it brings in each season. Tradition reads this as the reason the hymn is kept for ancestral rites.

Yes. That is the longer hymn Ruchi sings first, in chapter 93, also called the Pitru Stotra or Pitri Stava. It invites the ancestors to the shraddha offerings, describes their colours by lineage, asks the Agnishvattas, Barhishads, Ajyapas and Somapas to guard the four directions, and counts thirty-one groups of ancestors. The eleven verses on this page, beginning 'architanam amurtanam', follow it in chapter 94.

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