Devi

Himadri Sute Pahi Mam

Syama Sastri1762–1827 CE

हिमाद्रिसुते पाहि मां
वरदे परदेवते

सुमेरुमध्यवासिनि अम्ब
श्रीकामाक्षि

हेमगात्रि पङ्कजनेत्रि मतङ्गात्मजे
सरोजभवहरीशसुरमुनीन्द्रनुते

अम्बुजारिनिभवदने मौक्तिकमणि
हारशोभमानगले भक्तकल्पलते

श्यामकृष्णसोदरि गौरि परमेश्वरि
गिरिजे नीलवेणि कीरवाणि श्रीललिते

Meaning

Pallavi: Daughter of the snow mountain, protect me, giver of boons, supreme Devi.

Anupallavi: Mother who dwells in the midst of Sumeru, Shri Kamakshi.

1. Golden-bodied, lotus-eyed, daughter of Matanga; praised by Brahma, Hari, Shiva, the devas and the great munis.
2. Whose face is like the moon, foe of the lotus; whose throat shines with a necklace of pearls and gems; wish-fulfilling creeper of devotees.
3. Sister of Shyama Krishna; Gauri, Parameshvari; daughter of the mountain; dark-tressed; whose speech is sweet as a parrot’s; Shri Lalita.

About this bhajan

Syama Sastri (1762–1827) served as archaka of the Bangaru Kamakshi temple in Thanjavur, the golden murti of Kanchi’s Kamakshi brought south for safety in troubled times. Nearly all his songs are to her. Himadri Sute is one of his few in Sanskrit, set in Kalyani in rupaka tala, and it is short and steady, the kind of kriti a student can sing whole on the first Friday of Navratri. His mudra ‘Shyama Krishna’ appears in the last charanam, folded into the name ‘Shyamakrishna-sodari’, sister of Krishna, a title of Devi as Narayani. The three charanams were printed with notation by T. K. Govinda Rao.

karnatik.com c1009 (Kalyani, Rupakam; lyrics and notation after T. K. Govinda Rao, Compositions of Syama Sastry), checked against Shivkumar Kalyanaraman’s Krithi Archive ‘Himadri Suthe’; Devanagari by the editor