Śiva-mahimna-stotra verse 1

By Abhishek Singh @abhiart

Styled on Stotra Rañjanī, the book brought out by the #SanskritAppreciationHour team, we begin to translate more complex stotras and aṣṭakas for the benefit of bhaktas as well as students of Sanskrit. You may find many translations good and bad, but even the best ones won't take the trouble to explain grammatically why they've been translated the way they have been. This effort is dedicated to Acharya @iksusara and is spearheaded by Dr. Vinayak Rajat Bhat. You can follow him on Twitter @Vinayakrajat. 

The book Stotra Rañjanī is available on Amazon India, USA, and EU. You can also download the ebook or individual stotras from the publisher Juggernaut's website. If you have any queries or comments on the translation, please connect with us through Twitter. @RohiniBakshi 

॥ ॐ वक्रतुण्डाय  नमः ॥

शिवमहिम्नः  स्तोत्रम् verse 1

महिम्नः पारं ते परमविदुषो  यद्यसदृशी

स्तुतिर्ब्रह्मादीनामपि  तदवसन्नास्त्वयि  गिरः ।

अथाऽवाच्यः  सर्वः स्वमतिपरिमाणावधि गृणन्

ममाप्येव  स्तोत्रे  हर  निरपवादः परिकरः  ॥

पदच्छेदः  - महिम्नः, पारम्, ते, परम्, अविदुषः, यदि, असदृशी, तद्, ब्रह्मादीनामपि, गिरः, अथ, अवाच्यः, सर्वः,  स्वमतिपरिमाणावधि, गृणन्, मम, अपि, एव, स्तोत्रे, हर, निरपवादः, परिकरः ।

अन्वयः – हर ! ते महिम्नः परम् पारम् अविदुषः स्तुतिः यदि असदृशी (अस्ति) , तद् ब्रह्मादीनामपि गिरः त्वयि अवसन्नाः (सन्ति) । अथ स्वमतिपरिणामावधि गृणन् सर्वः अवाच्यः, मम अपि स्तोत्रे एषः परिकरः निरपवादः (अस्ति) ।।

Meter: Śikhariṇī (शिखरिणी)

 English translation:

O Hara, the praise of the unknowledgable  is inadequate to [reach/understand] the furthest extent of your greatness; and the words of Brahma etc. are also unsuccessful; now then,[since] all people who try praising you to the best of their ability are blameless, then even this literary attempt [of mine] in my stotra is irreproachable.

Word by word translation:

हर - O Hara; masc, voc, sing

ते - [of] your; gen, sing, enc

महिम्नः - [of your] majesty, greatness; masc, gen, sing (mahiman)

परम् - other, far, distant; neut, nom, sing adj

पारम् - opposite bank, shore; neut, nom, sing

अविदुषः - of the unlearned, unscholarly; masc, gen, sing (vidvas)

स्तुतिः - praise, adulation; fem, nom, sing

यदि - if; conj

असदृशी; unsuitable, inadequate; adj, fem, nom, sing

तद् - so also; adv

ब्रह्मादीनाम् - of Brahma etc; masc, gen, pl

अपि - also; conj

गिरः - voices, words; fem, nom, pl

त्वयि - on you; loc, sing, pron

अवसन्नाः - defeated, sunk, beaten down; fem, nom, pl, adj, pp ava√sad 

स्वमतिपरिणामावधि - according to the full extent of one's capability

[स्व - one's own; pron, adj 

मति - intelligence; fem noun, ic

परिणाम - ripeness, maturity, end result; masc noun, ic

अवधि - as far as, upto, until; masc noun, ic]

गृणन् - praising; present participle, √गॄ

सर्वः - everyone, all; masc, sing, pron

अवाच्यः - not deserving censure; masc, sing, gerundive, adj, √vac

अथ - then, now; conj
मम - mine, my; gen, sing, possess pron

अपि - also

स्तोत्रे - in my stotra, my composition; neut, loc, sing  

एषः - this; masc, nom, sing, demons pron 

परिकरः [literary attempt], figure of style accumulating the epithets to reinforce a description; composition masc, nom, sing

निरपवादः - blameless; irreproachable; masc, nom, sing, adj