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Home › Mantras › Shivashtakam
Rudra (Shiva) Shivashtakam: Shiva disguised as a young ascetic questioning Parvati at her penance on a Himalayan peak
Shiva, disguised as a young student, visits Parvati at her penance
Mantra · Eight verses that each close on four names of Shiva and 'I praise'

Shivashtakam

प्रभुं प्राणनाथं विभुं विश्वनाथं जगन्नाथनाथं सदानन्दभाजाम् । भवद्भव्यभूतेश्वरं भूतनाथं शिवं शङ्करं शम्भुमीशानमीडे ॥

Also known as Prabhum Prananatham

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

What the Shivashtakam is

The Shivashtakam, the Sanskrit hymn to Shiva that opens with the words prabhum prananatham, is eight verses of praise followed by one verse on the fruit of reading it. It runs in bhujangaprayata, the metre of four short-long-long beats to the line, and every verse ends on the same refrain: shivam shankaram shambhum ishanam ide, 'I praise Shiva, Shankara, Shambhu, Ishana'. That closing verb is the only one in each verse, so everything before it is a string of titles waiting for 'I praise'. Verse 1 names Shiva lord of the life-breath, of the universe and of past, present and future. Verses 2 to 4 draw the ascetic: skulls at the throat, serpents on the body, the Ganga in his hair, ash, booming laughter. Verse 5 gives half his body to Parvati, verse 6 places skull-bowl and trident in his hands, verse 7 makes him Kubera's friend, and verse 8 sets him in the cremation ground.

A courtship hidden in verses 5, 7 and 8

The hymn carries no account of its own making. The old Bombay printing of the Brihat Stotra Ratnakar simply sets it among the Shiva hymns, straight after the Kalabhairavashtakam, with no author's line of its own. What its last verses do hold, scattered and out of order, is the story of how Parvati won Shiva. Read from the end backwards, verse 8 calls him the one who burned manoja, 'the mind-born', a name of Kama. In Kalidasa's Kumarasambhava the god of love is sent to break Shiva's meditation so that he will turn to Parvati, and Shiva's third eye reduces him to ash. Parvati then takes up austerity on a Himalayan peak. Kalidasa says she first lived on leaves that fell by themselves and at last refused even those, and so the learned called her Aparna, 'without a leaf'. That is the name verse 7 uses for Shiva's wife. In the same canto Shiva comes to her as a young ascetic and mocks the god she wants for his skulls, snakes and cremation grounds, the very marks this hymn praises in verses 2 and 8. Verse 5 gives the ending: the daughter of the king of mountains holds half his body, the form known as Ardhanarishvara. The Skanda and Kalika Puranas each tell their own version of how she came to share it.

The mantra, in six scripts

DevanagariSanskrit & Hindiप्रभुं प्राणनाथं विभुं विश्वनाथं जगन्नाथनाथं सदानन्दभाजाम् । भवद्भव्यभूतेश्वरं भूतनाथं शिवं शङ्करं शम्भुमीशानमीडे ॥
Tamilப்ரபும் ப்ராணநாதம் விபும் விஶ்வநாதம் ஜகந்நாதநாதம் ஸதாநந்தபாஜாம் । பவத்பவ்யபூதேஶ்வரம் பூதநாதம் ஶிவம் ஶங்கரம் ஶம்புமீஶாநமீடே ॥
Teluguప్రభుం ప్రాణనాథం విభుం విశ్వనాథం జగన్నాథనాథం సదానన్దభాజామ్ । భవద్భవ్యభూతేశ్వరం భూతనాథం శివం శఙ్కరం శమ్భుమీశానమీడే ॥
Kannadaಪ್ರಭುಂ ಪ್ರಾಣನಾಥಂ ವಿಭುಂ ವಿಶ್ವನಾಥಂ ಜಗನ್ನಾಥನಾಥಂ ಸದಾನನ್ದಭಾಜಾಮ್ । ಭವದ್ಭವ್ಯಭೂತೇಶ್ವರಂ ಭೂತನಾಥಂ ಶಿವಂ ಶಙ್ಕರಂ ಶಮ್ಭುಮೀಶಾನಮೀಡೇ ॥
Malayalamപ്രഭും പ്രാണനാഥം വിഭും വിശ്വനാഥം ജഗന്നാഥനാഥം സദാനന്ദഭാജാമ് । ഭവദ്ഭവ്യഭൂതേശ്വരം ഭൂതനാഥം ശിവം ശങ്കരം ശമ്ഭുമീശാനമീഡേ ॥
EnglishRoman transliterationprabhuṃ prāṇanāthaṃ vibhuṃ viśvanāthaṃ jagannāthanāthaṃ sadānandabhājām | bhavadbhavyabhūteśvaraṃ bhūtanāthaṃ śivaṃ śaṅkaraṃ śambhumīśānamīḍe ||
“I praise Shiva, Shankara, Shambhu, Ishana: the Master, lord of the life-breath, the all-pervading one, lord of the universe, lord of Vishnu the lord of the world and of all who share in lasting bliss. He is ruler of what has been, what is and what will be, and lord of all beings.”
प्रभुं
prabhuṃ — the Master
प्राणनाथं
prāṇanāthaṃ — lord of the life-breath
विभुं
vibhuṃ — all-pervading
विश्वनाथं
viśvanāthaṃ — lord of the universe
जगन्नाथनाथं
jagannāthanāthaṃ — lord of Vishnu, lord of the world
सदानन्दभाजाम्
sadānandabhājām — of those who share lasting bliss
भवद्भव्यभूतेश्वरं
bhavadbhavyabhūteśvaraṃ — ruler of present, future and past
भूतनाथं
bhūtanāthaṃ — lord of all beings
शिवं
śivaṃ — Shiva, the auspicious
शङ्करं
śaṅkaraṃ — Shankara, bringer of well-being
शम्भुमीशानमीडे
śambhumīśānamīḍe — Shambhu, Ishana, I praise

Shivashtakam lyrics in full

Eight verses and the closing verse on the fruit of reading it, as printed in the old stotra collections.

All 9 verses, in Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and English, each with its meaning. Choose a script:

Download the Shivashtakam PDFAll 9 verses with their meanings, in Sanskrit. Free to print and keep.

Verse 1

प्रभुं प्राणनाथं विभुं विश्वनाथं जगन्नाथनाथं सदानन्दभाजाम् ।
भवद्भव्यभूतेश्वरं भूतनाथं शिवं शङ्करं शम्भुमीशानमीडे ॥

I praise Shiva, Shankara, Shambhu, Ishana: the Master, lord of the life-breath, the all-pervading one, lord of the universe, lord of Vishnu the lord of the world and of all who share in lasting bliss. He is ruler of what has been, what is and what will be, and lord of all beings.

Verse 2

गले रुण्डमालं तनौ सर्पजालं महाकालकालं गणेशाधिपालम् ।
जटाजूटगङ्गोत्तरङ्गैर्विशालं शिवं शङ्करं शम्भुमीशानमीडे ॥

I praise Shiva, Shankara, Shambhu, Ishana, who wears a garland of skulls at his throat and a web of serpents on his body. He is death even to great Time, the guardian and master of Ganesha and the ganas, and his piled matted locks spread wide with the rising waves of the Ganga.

Verse 3

मुदामाकरं मण्डनं मण्डयन्तं महामण्डलं भस्मभूषाधरं तम् ।
अनादिं ह्यपारं महामोहमारं शिवं शङ्करं शम्भुमीशानमीडे ॥

I praise him, Shiva, Shankara, Shambhu, Ishana: the mine of all joy, the ornament who adorns everything, the great circle of the cosmos, who wears sacred ash as his decoration. He is without beginning and without end, the slayer of great delusion.

Verse 4

तटाधोनिवासं महाट्टाट्टहासं महापापनाशं सदा सुप्रकाशम् ।
गिरीशं गणेशं सुरेशं महेशं शिवं शङ्करं शम्भुमीशानमीडे ॥

I praise Shiva, Shankara, Shambhu, Ishana, who dwells below the slope of the mountain, whose great laughter booms out, who destroys great sins and is ever radiant. He is lord of the mountain, lord of the ganas, lord of the gods, the great lord.

Verse 5

गिरीन्द्रात्मजासंगृहीतार्धदेहं गिरौ संस्थितं सर्वदासन्नगेहम् ।
परब्रह्मब्रह्मादिभिर्वन्द्यमानं शिवं शङ्करं शम्भुमीशानमीडे ॥

I praise Shiva, Shankara, Shambhu, Ishana, half of whose body is held by the daughter of the king of mountains. He abides on the mountain and is at all times a home for the downcast; he is the supreme Brahman, worshipped by Brahma and the other gods.

Verse 6

कपालं त्रिशूलं कराभ्यां दधानं पदाम्भोजनम्राय कामं ददानम् ।
बलीवर्दयानं सुराणां प्रधानं शिवं शङ्करं शम्भुमीशानमीडे ॥

I praise Shiva, Shankara, Shambhu, Ishana, who holds a skull-bowl and a trident in his two hands and grants their wish to whoever bows at his lotus feet. He rides the bull and is the foremost of the gods.

Verse 7

शरच्चन्द्रगात्रं गुणानन्दपात्रं त्रिनेत्रं पवित्रं धनेशस्य मित्रम् ।
अपर्णाकलत्रं चरित्रं विचित्रं शिवं शङ्करं शम्भुमीशानमीडे ॥

I praise Shiva, Shankara, Shambhu, Ishana, whose body is bright as the autumn moon, the vessel of virtue and bliss, three-eyed, pure, the friend of Kubera the lord of wealth. Aparna (Parvati) is his consort, and his deeds are wondrous.

Verse 8

हरं सर्पहारं चिताभूविहारं भवं वेदसारं सदा निर्विकारम् ।
श्मशाने वसन्तं मनोजं दहन्तं शिवं शङ्करं शम्भुमीशानमीडे ॥

I praise Shiva, Shankara, Shambhu, Ishana: Hara, who wears serpents as his necklace and roams the ground of the funeral pyres; Bhava, the essence of the Vedas, forever unchanging. He dwells in the cremation ground and burned up Kama, the mind-born god of desire.

Phala Shruti 1

स्तवं यः प्रभाते नरः शूलपाणेः पठेत्सर्वदा भर्गभावानुरक्तः ।
स पुत्रं धनं धान्यमित्रं कलत्रं विचित्रः समासाद्य मोक्षं प्रयाति ॥

The verse says that a person who always recites this hymn to the trident-bearer at dawn, with a heart devoted to Bharga (Shiva), gains a son, wealth, grain, friends and a spouse, becomes distinguished, and at last attains liberation.

The syllable people get wrong

The refrain's last word is īḍe, 'I praise', with a retroflex ḍ made with the tongue tip curled back, the same verb that opens the Rigveda as agnim īḷe. Keep it apart from the m before it, śambhum-īśānam-īḍe, and say ee-DAY rather than 'meedy' with a soft English d.

When the Shivashtakam is chanted

Weekday. Monday

Festival. Shravan Mondays and Maha Shivaratri

Questions

The Rudrashtakam shares its bhujangaprayata metre and even the title mahakalakalam, 'death to great Time', which appears in verse 2 here. But Tulsidas set the Rudrashtakam inside the Ramcharitmanas as a plea for mercy that ends with the singer admitting they know no yoga or worship. The Shivashtakam asks for nothing until its closing verse; each verse simply ends 'I praise'. The Lingashtakam praises the lingam, which has no face or limbs, while this hymn describes the figure of Shiva himself: skulls, trident, bull and consort.
It is four names of Shiva and one verb. Shiva is 'the auspicious one', Shankara 'the one who brings well-being', Shambhu 'the one from whom well-being comes', and Ishana 'the ruler'. Ide means 'I praise'. Because the names are in the object case, every title earlier in the verse, from the skull garland to the bull, also depends on that single ide. In recitation the words run together as shambhumishanamide.
The phala shruti is the ninth verse, beginning stavam yah prabhate. The verse says that a person who reads this hymn of the trident-bearer at dawn, with a heart devoted to Bharga, a name of Shiva, gains a son, wealth, grain, friends and a spouse, becomes distinguished, and finally reaches moksha. A South Indian family of printings closes with a different verse that calls the hymn a jewel among stotras but lists much the same gifts.
It is widely sung as his, but the old printed stotra collections give it no author. One large printed stotra compendium credits Shankaracharya for the Kalabhairavashtakam printed just before it and leaves this hymn unsigned. Its date is unknown. Several different hymns share the name Shivashtakam, so devotees usually identify this one by its first words, prabhum prananatham vibhum vishvanatham.
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