Lakṣmī-Nṛsiṃha Karāvalamba Stotram

लक्ष्मीनृसिंहकरावलम्बस्तोत्रम्

Ādi Śaṅkarācārya·8th century CE·17 verses·Daily recitation for protection; before any undertaking requiring fearless strength; saṅkaṭa-haraṇa observances; Nṛsiṃha Jayantī; Friday Lakṣmī Pūjā; recited at moments of grave personal or family distress

Ādi Śaṅkarācārya's supreme stotra to Lakṣmī-Nṛsiṃha — the Lord of fierce protection in eternal union with the Mother. Each of the seventeen verses ends with the same refrain — *lakṣmīnṛsiṃha mama dehi karāvalambam* — "O Lakṣmī-Nṛsiṃha, grant me the support of Thy hand." The doctrinal point is precise; the fierce Lord is approached not directly but through His union with Lakṣmī, whose presence in His lap transforms the destroyer of Hiraṇyakaśipu into the saviour of every devotee who calls upon them together.

The Lakṣmī-Nṛsiṃha Karāvalamba Stotram is among the most beloved compositions of Ādi Śaṅkarācārya — seventeen verses of mounting urgency in which the soul, recognizing its danger in the saṃsāric ocean, cries out for the hand of the Man-Lion Lord and the Mother who sits eternally in His lap. Each verse builds an image of the seeker's peril — pulled by the senses, beset by relations, swept by the currents of birth — and closes with the same refrain: lakṣmīnṛsiṃha mama dehi karāvalambam — "O Lakṣmī-Nṛsiṃha, grant me the support of Thy hand."

The theological precision of the stotra lies in the compound vocative. Śaṅkara does not address Nṛsiṃha alone. He addresses the Lord precisely in His inseparability from Lakṣmī — the form in which the fierce protector who tore Hiraṇyakaśipu apart becomes the gentle refuge of the devotee, because the Mother sits upon His lap and softens the dharma of His justice into the warmth of His grace. This is fully consonant with the Śrīvaiṣṇava puruṣakāra: the hand that supports is given not by the Lord alone but by the Divine Couple, and any approach to Nṛsiṃha that bypasses the Mother is an approach to terror rather than refuge. The complete Sanskrit text with translations is available through the external sources linked below.