The Namotthunam, also called the Shakrastava (“Indra’s praise”), is the great formal praise of the Arihantas in the Shvetambara liturgy. It is a single flowing sentence of homage in Prakrit, built from a long run of titles that each begin the same way and end the same way: “to the … ones, homage.” It is recited in every chaityavandana, the rite of bowing before an image, and in pratikraman.
The name is the first word. Namotthu ṇaṁ is “let there be homage”, and the Shvetambara books we consulted print it as namutthuṇaṁ. This page gives the text in nine sections, a transliteration, a plain meaning, and a note on how it is organised and sourced.
The Text
The text is printed here in the nine sections that tradition recognises. The numbers below mark sections of one continuous praise, not verses in a metre.
Section 1
Transliteration:
namutthuṇaṁ arihaṁtāṇaṁ bhagavaṁtāṇaṁ ||1||
Meaning: Homage to the Arihantas, the Bhagavantas: the worthy ones, the glorious ones.
Section 2
Transliteration:
āigarāṇaṁ titthayarāṇaṁ sayaṁsaṁbuddhāṇaṁ ||2||
Meaning: To the founders of the teaching, the makers of the ford, the self-awakened.
Section 3
Transliteration:
purisuttamāṇaṁ purisa-sīhāṇaṁ purisa-vara-puṁḍarīāṇaṁ purisa-vara-gaṁdha-hatthīṇaṁ ||3||
Meaning: To the best among beings, the lions among beings, the white lotuses among beings, and the scent-elephants among beings.
Section 4
Transliteration:
loguttamāṇaṁ loga-nāhāṇaṁ loga-hiāṇaṁ loga-paīvāṇaṁ loga-pajjoagarāṇaṁ ||4||
Meaning: To the highest in the world, the protectors of the world, the benefactors of the world, the lamps of the world, the makers of light for the world.
Section 5
Transliteration:
abhaya-dayāṇaṁ cakkhu-dayāṇaṁ magga-dayāṇaṁ saraṇa-dayāṇaṁ bohi-dayāṇaṁ ||5||
Meaning: To the givers of fearlessness, the givers of the eye, the givers of the path, the givers of refuge, the givers of awakening.
Section 6
Transliteration:
dhamma-dayāṇaṁ dhamma-desayāṇaṁ dhamma-nāyagāṇaṁ dhamma-sārahīṇaṁ dhamma-vara-cāuraṁta-cakkavaṭṭīṇaṁ ||6||
Meaning: To the givers of dharma, the teachers of dharma, the leaders of dharma, the charioteers of dharma, the supreme emperors of dharma, whose reign reaches to the four ends.
Section 7
Transliteration:
appaḍihaya-vara-nāṇa-daṁsaṇa-dharāṇaṁ viyaṭṭa-chaumāṇaṁ ||7||
Meaning: To those who bear the unobstructed, supreme knowledge and vision, and who have turned away from every veil that covers the self.
Section 8
Transliteration:
jiṇāṇaṁ jāvayāṇaṁ tinnāṇaṁ tārayāṇaṁ buddhāṇaṁ bohayāṇaṁ muttāṇaṁ moagāṇaṁ ||8||
Meaning: To the conquerors who help others conquer; to those who have crossed and help others cross; to the awakened who awaken others; to the liberated who help others become free.
Section 9
Transliteration:
savvannūṇaṁ savva-darisīṇaṁ siva-mayala-marua-maṇaṁta-makkhaya-mavvābāha-mapuṇarāvitti-siddhigaī-nāmadheyaṁ ṭhāṇaṁ saṁpattāṇaṁ namo jiṇāṇaṁ jia-bhayāṇaṁ ||9||
Meaning: To the all-knowing and all-seeing, who have reached the abode called siddhi-gati, which is auspicious, unmoving, free of disease, endless, imperishable, unobstructed, and from which there is no return: homage to the Jinas, who have conquered fear.
The meanings are our own, kept close to the Prakrit.
How It Is Built
Tradition divides the Namotthunam into nine groups, called sampadā, and the nine sections above follow that division. The medieval commentary known as the Lalitavistara, by Haribhadra Suri, gives each group a name. As these names are usually cited, the list is: the one who is praised (stotavya), the general cause of the praise (ogha-hetu), the particular cause (visesha-hetu), the use of the praise (upayoga), the reason for that use (taddhetu), a more particular use (savisesha-upayoga), the nature of the one praised (svarupa), his giving to others of what he himself has (nija-sama-phaladatri), and the final state (moksha). We have given the names as they are usually cited and have not checked them against the text of the commentary itself; the labels are commentators’ tools, and the text works perfectly well without them.
What the grouping does show is that the praise is not random. It starts with a title, then says what the Jina did (founded the teaching), then describes what makes him the best (the lion, the lotus, the elephant), what he gives (fearlessness, the path, refuge, awakening), what he knows, and where he has gone. The pattern is a short biography of a liberated teacher, compressed into a list.
What to Notice
The images are chosen with care. The lion, the white lotus and the scent-elephant are each an old picture of excellence in India: courage, purity that rises from mud, and the elephant whose smell sends other elephants away. They are the same pictures a poet of any tradition would use, and the Jain contribution is to hang them on the Arihanta as qualities of the liberated and not of a king.
“Giver” is used with care. In sections 5 and 6 the Arihantas are called givers (dayāṇaṁ) of fearlessness, of the eye, of the path, of refuge, of awakening, of dharma. Jain teachers read this as describing what a Jina makes available by teaching and by being an example, not as a transfer of gifts from outside; a liberated being does not intervene. Section 8 makes the same point with more care, saying that the Jinas have conquered and help others conquer, crossed and help others cross, and so on: the helping is a matter of showing a way that works.
The ending names the destination in a string of negatives. The abode of the liberated is called auspicious, unmoving, free of disease, endless, imperishable, unobstructed and without return. Every word is a denial of something the cycle of birth involves, and the last, “without return”, is the central claim of the whole tradition.
Where It Comes From
The tradition presents the hymn as the praise offered by Indra, called Shakra in the Prakrit, and that is the source of its alternative name Shakrastava. The Kalpa Sutra, which is the Shvetambara text read during Paryushana, presents the hymn as Indra’s praise at the conception of the Tirthankara. We report that as the tradition’s own account of where the hymn belongs, not as a statement about when it was composed.
Other traditions arrange the recitation differently: for instance, reciting it separately for the Arihantas and the Siddhas, with slightly different wording near the end. The text printed here is the one found in the Shvetambara pratikraman books we consulted. Practice varies by sangh, and we have not attempted to list every arrangement.
How This Text Was Established
The Namotthunam is not on Wikisource and no critical edition is available online, so the sourcing rests on printed books scanned by the Digital Library of India on archive.org. We read the base text from a clean Hindi pratikraman manual and checked it section by section against older printed books:
- Devasia Raia Pratikraman Sutra, Babulal Jaysinghlal Mehta, 1953 (item 2015.307076), read directly as the base text.
- Panchapratikramanadisutrani, Shri Jain Shreyaskar Mandal, Mehsana, printed at Nirnaya Sagar Press, 1914 (item 2015.553632).
- Panch Pratikraman Sutra Sahvidhi, 1916 (item 2015.549872).
The text layer of the older books is noisy, so they were used to confirm the sections and decide between readings, never as the only witness. The nine sections agree across the three books apart from spelling. Three points are worth knowing:
- The opening is printed namutthuṇaṁ in the pratikraman books; canonical editions commonly print namotthu ṇaṁ. We follow the pratikraman books.
- The Prakrit spells the same sound with or without the glide y. Our text, following the 1953 book and, as far as its text layer can be read, the 1914 book, writes pajjoagarāṇaṁ, moagāṇaṁ and jiabhayāṇaṁ; some editions write pajjoyagarāṇaṁ and jiyabhayāṇaṁ. This is spelling, not a different word.
- Section 9 reads siddhigaī (long final vowel) in the 1916 and 1953 books, where Agamic editions print siddhigai. We follow the books.
The extra verse that Shvetambara books print after the Namotthunam in some rites (je a aīyā siddhā, a verse about all the Siddhas of past, future and present) is not part of the nine sections and is not printed here. We did not use the Gujarati-script scans we found, because their text layer was too poor to read.
Frequently asked questions
↳ What is the Namotthunam?
It is the Prakrit praise of the Arihantas, also called the Shakrastava or Indra's praise. It is a long run of titles, each followed by the word for homage, and it is recited in chaityavandana and in pratikraman.
↳ Why is it called the Shakrastava?
Tradition presents it as the praise offered by Indra, who is called Shakra, on the occasion of a Tirthankara's conception. The Kalpa Sutra gives the hymn there, and that is where the name comes from.
↳ What are the nine sampadas?
They are the nine groups into which commentators divide the hymn. Haribhadra Suri's commentary names them as the one praised, the general cause, the particular cause, the use, its reason, a more particular use, the nature of the one praised, the giving of like results to others, and the final state.
↳ What does "purisa" mean in the Namotthunam?
It is the Prakrit for a person or being, and here it means any being at its best. The titles place the Arihantas as the highest among beings, not among men alone.
↳ Is the Namotthunam a prayer for favours?
No. It only offers homage and describes the qualities of the Arihantas. Nothing is asked. Jain teachers read the sections about giving as describing what a teacher makes available, not a gift passed to the reciter.