Śrī Stava

श्रीस्तवः

Kūreśa (Kūrattāḻvān)·12th century CE·11 verses·Daily recitation in Śrīvaiṣṇava households as part of the Stotra Ratnam–Catuḥślokī–Śrī Stava trilogy of Mother-stotras; Kūreśa's Tirunakṣatram; before the Tāyār sannidhi at every Divyadeśa; on Pāṅguṉi Uttiram

The supreme post-Rāmānuja paean to Śrī Mahālakṣmī — eleven verses composed by Kūreśa, the foremost disciple of Bhagavad Sri Rāmānujācārya, at the moment of the restoration of his eyesight at Tirupati. The Sampradāya records that Bhagavad Rāmānuja personally directed Kūreśa to compose this work; it stands alongside Yāmunācārya's Catuḥślokī and the Stotra Ratnam as the foundational Mother-stotras of the Sampradāya in its post-Rāmānuja flowering.

The Śrī Stava of Kūreśa — Kūrattāḻvān, the foremost direct disciple of Bhagavad Sri Rāmānujācārya — is the supreme post-Rāmānuja paean to Śrī Mahālakṣmī in eleven verses of compressed theological brilliance. The composition's occasion is one of the most celebrated incidents of the Sampradāya: Kūreśa, having lost his eyesight under the Cōḻa persecution that drove Rāmānuja into exile, journeyed to Tirupati and received his sight back through the Mother's grace at the Tāyār sannidhi. At the moment of restoration he composed these eleven verses — the first of his Pañcastava, the five paeans through which he established the post-Rāmānuja stotra tradition. The Sampradāya records that Bhagavad Rāmānuja Himself directed Kūreśa to compose the work as the disciple's stotra-offering to the Mother.

The doctrinal place of this stava in the Sampradāya is unmatched among post-Rāmānuja Lakṣmī compositions. The eleven verses systematically establish Śrī's eternity, Her inseparability from Sriman Nārāyaṇa, Her puruṣakāra in every saṃskāra of every devotee, and Her capacity to grant mokṣa by Her own grace. Vedānta Deśika cites the Śrī Stava throughout his own Lakṣmī compositions; the work is recited daily in Śrīvaiṣṇava households as part of the trilogy with Yāmunācārya's Catuḥślokī and Stotra Ratnam. The complete text with vyākhyāna is available through the external sources linked below.