Learn Sanskrit through Slokas – 7

Welcome back to the series of learning Sanskrit through Slokas!

Today’s sloka has its origins from Ramayana and is the starting sloka of Sri Venkateshwara Suprabhaatham. These verses are chanted by Sage Vishwaamithra to wake up Lord Rama who accomanpanied him to the forest to vanquish a few demons. These are sung everyday to wake up the Lord in various temples every morning.

kaushalyaa suprajaa raama purvaa sandhyaa pravarthathe
utthishta narashaardula karthavyam dhaivam aahnikam

Let’s discuss the word-by-word meaning of the above sloka.

kaushalyaa suprajaa raama

• kaushalyaa suprajaa raama – The endearing son of Kaushalyaa, Sri Rama

purvaa sandhyaa pravarthathe

• purvaa sandhyaa – Early morning. Purvaa is early. Thus purvaja is the one born before, a brother or even an ancestor. Sandhyaa is twilight
• pravarthathe – about to set in.

uththishta narashaardula

• uththishta – is to stand up or rise. Here it means to ‘wake up’
• narashaardula – nara is man, shaardula is lion. Here it is used to praise Rama as a Lion among men.

karthavyam dhaivam aahnikam

• karthavyam – to be done. From the verb ‘kar’ – to do. Thus, ‘vakthavyam‘ is to be said, ‘shrothavyam’ is to be heard, ‘patithavyam‘ is to be studied.
• dhaivam aahnikam – Oblations/rituals to Gods

To summarize, Sage Vishwaamithra says these lines: “Sri Rama! Kausalya’s endearing son! Wake up! The sun is about to rise in the eastern skies as you have to perform your daily early morning oblations”

Previous parts of this series: 

Part 6  Part 5     Part 4     Part 3     Part 2     Part 1