Soundarya Lahari is a beautiful compostion of 100 shlokas composed by Bhagwan Adi Shankaracharya, it's literary brilliance is a testament of the depth and crystal clear understanding of Shiva and Shakti tattva of the Brahman which he holds.

Soundarya and Lahari are both sanskrit words which means "Beauty" and "Waves" respectively.So, the literal meaning of Soundarya Lahari is "Waves Of Beauty". Soundarya Lahari consists of 2 parts, one is Ananda Lahari and other is Soundarya Lahari itself.

Ananda Lahari means "Waves of Bliss or happiness" and it consists of 41 shlokas out of 100 dedicated to Shakti. These 41 shlokas describe the knowledge of Shakti Tattva.

Soundarya Lahari means "Waves of Beauty" and it consists of remaining 59 shlokas which describe the shakti tattva from head to toe.

This brilliant composition by Bhagwan Shankaracharya has a yantra for all 100 shlokas, it is believed that designing a yantras and reciting it's shlokas can help a person attain almost anything in the world.

Adi Shankaracharya is a master beyond any comaparison, out of his many extraordinary works, Soundarya lahari approaches the Shakti tattva of the brahman. His approach to spiritual concept are not only deep and profound but far reaching in the diverse traditions of tantra, Saguna and nirguna mode of worship.

Each shloka of Soundaraya Lahari has a mantra and yantra associated with it. These shloka are written in such a way that they not only invoke the goddess, but also give the seeker benefits of chanting the associatated mantra. All the shlokas of Soundarya lahari are written in a Poetic Metre or Chandas called Shikharini/[शिखरिणी].

The reason Adi Shankaracharya choose this poetic metre has a deep spiritual reason. The word 'Shikhar' means mountain and so does 'Parvati' who is Daughter of the king of Mountain, himavan. Shikhar and Parvati are both synonyms meaning Mountains.

Shikharini metre has exactly 17 syllables in each lines which are divided into two groups. The first group has 6 syllables and the second group has 11 syllables.

The 17 syllables are divided in the count of the number of rasas or tastes which are 6 and number of rudras as 11 which are called Ekadasha[11] Rudra.


There is an interesting story associated with Adi Shankaracharya and how did he go about composing the Soundaraya Lahari .

Once, Adi Shankaracharya after doing penance for a long time desired to worship Lord Shiva and Maa Parvati on their holy abode of Mount kailasha. Upon reaching kailasha, he greeted lord shiva and maa parvati and there, lord shiva gave him a compilation of 100 shlokas describing the nature of Divine Goddess Shakti. Upon returning to his own ashram, lord shiva's vehicle, nandi bull made a request to adi Shankaracharya to keep the book to himself for his own study.
When adi Shankaracharya declined, a tussle between them occured and nandi tried to snatch the book from adi Shankaracharya hands, in this, the book tore in half with First half which is Ananda lahari, was left to Shankaracharya and second half Soundarya lahari, was taken by Nandi bull.
When Shankaracharya narrated this incident to Lord shiva, he instructed Shankaracharya to compose the second half of the book himself. This is how the divine compostion of Ananda Lahari and Soundarya Lahari came to existence.

It is said that there are 36 different commentaries which have been written on Soundaraya Lahari in the sanskrit language. All 100 shlokas have multiple layer of spiritual meaning hidden in them which can be discovered by the seeker depending on the depth of his practice. Adi Shankaracharya wrote the Soundaraya Lahari is such a way that any practitioner can chant this in a safe and easy manner. The spiritual benefits which any seeker gets from chanting individual shlokas are immense and bestows the seeker with it desired result but chanting the Soundarya Lahari in it's entirity is a divine feeling in itself.

May Lord Shiva and Maa Parvati bless all seeker who chant this strotam with the spiritual and material benefits it holds.