The Uvasaggaharam Stotra is five short verses of Prakrit addressed to Parshvanatha, the twenty-third Tirthankara. It is among the most recited texts in Shvetambara homes and temples, it is one of the nine hymns of the Nav Smaran collection, and it is traditionally attributed to the teacher Bhadrabahu. It is very short, which is part of why it is so well loved: a whole devotional arc, from praise to a single request, fits in a minute.
This page gives the Prakrit text, a transliteration, a meaning in plain words, and an honest account of what is certain about the hymn and what is not.
The Text
विसहर-विस-निन्नासं मंगल-कल्लाण-आवासं ॥१॥
Transliteration:
uvasaggaharaṁ pāsaṁ pāsaṁ vaṁdāmi kamma-ghaṇa-mukkaṁ |
visahara-visa-ninnāsaṁ maṁgala-kallāṇa-āvāsaṁ ||1||
Meaning: I bow to Parshva, the Jina who removes afflictions, who is free of the dense mass of karma, who ends the poison of the serpent, and who is the dwelling of what is auspicious and good.
तस्स गह-रोग-मारी दुट्ठ-जरा जंति उवसामं ॥२॥
Transliteration:
visahara-phuliṁga-maṁtaṁ kaṁṭhe dhārei jo sayā maṇuo |
tassa gaha-roga-mārī duṭṭha-jarā jaṁti uvasāmaṁ ||2||
Meaning: A person who keeps the visahara-phulinga mantra (the “spark that undoes poison”) at the throat at all times: for that person, the troubles said to come from the planets, illness, epidemics and fierce, harsh fevers settle and subside.
नर-तिरिएसु वि जीवा पावंति न दुक्ख-दोगच्चं ॥३॥
Transliteration:
ciṭṭhau dūre maṁto tujjha paṇāmo vi bahu-phalo hoi |
nara-tiriesu vi jīvā pāvaṁti na dukkha-dogaccaṁ ||3||
Meaning: Let the mantra itself stay far off. Even a simple bow to you bears much fruit. Beings among humans and animals, by it, do not meet pain or a wretched condition.
पावंति अविग्घेणं जीवा अयरामरं ठाणं ॥४॥
Transliteration:
tuha sammatte laddhe ciṁtāmaṇi-kappa-pāyava-bbhahie |
pāvaṁti aviggheṇaṁ jīvā ayarāmaraṁ ṭhāṇaṁ ||4||
Meaning: When your right faith (samyaktva) is gained, which is better than the wish-fulfilling jewel and the wish-granting tree, beings reach, without obstruction, the state that is free of ageing and death.
ता देव दिज्ज बोहिं भवे भवे पास जिणचंद ॥५॥
Transliteration:
ia saṁthuo mahāyasa bhatti-bbhara-nibbhareṇa hiaeṇa |
tā deva dijja bohiṁ bhave bhave pāsa jiṇacaṁda ||5||
Meaning: Thus praised, O one of great renown, with a heart brimming over with devotion: therefore, Lord, grant me bodhi (awakening, right understanding), in birth after birth, Parshva, moon among the Jinas.
The meanings above are our own rendering, kept close to the Prakrit. The second pāsaṁ in the first line is the Jina Parshvanatha. How to read the first pāsaṁ is a small question in itself: it can be taken as part of the title phrase, “Parshva, remover of afflictions”, or, as some commentators read it, as the attendant yaksha called Parshva who removes afflictions for the Jina’s devotees. We have followed the simpler reading.
What the Name Means
Uvasagga is the Prakrit form of upasarga, a word with a precise place in Jain thought: an affliction that arrives from outside during spiritual practice, whether from gods, human beings, animals or the elements. The classic example is the very story attached to Parshvanatha, in which he stands in meditation while an enemy from an earlier life sends storm and terror against him and he does not move. Uvasaggaharam means “remover of afflictions”. For the story itself, see the Parshvanatha page.
What to Notice
The mantra is set aside. The second verse is the one that tradition treats as the mantra verse, and the third opens by waving it away: “let the mantra stay far off.” What the hymn offers in its place is something far smaller and far more demanding: a bow. The hymn is not saying the mantra is useless; it is saying the bow is already enough.
The wish-fulfilling jewel is outranked. In verse 4 the cintāmaṇi and the wish-granting tree, the two great symbols of getting whatever you want, are described as surpassed by samyaktva, right faith. In Jain terms this is exact rather than pious: the thing that ends the cycle is not a gift from outside but a change of seeing.
The only request is for awakening. Verse 5 is where the hymn finally asks for something, and it is not health, wealth or protection. It is bohi, awakening, in every birth. Jain teachers usually read a line like this as aspiration and not as a petition to someone who can bestow, because a liberated Jina does not intervene; the same point is made on the Pratikraman page about prayer in Jain practice.
Traditional Use
The hymn is recited on its own, as part of the Nav Smaran in the morning, and as a text addressed to Parshvanatha on his observances, including Posh Dashami, when it is widely read. The tradition attached to the second verse is that it is a protective mantra, which is why the phrase visahara-phulinga is sometimes spoken separately in practice and why some families treat that verse with special care.
We report this as a tradition, not as a promise. The hymn is not a treatment for illness, and it should never stand in for medical care; if someone is ill, see a doctor, and recite the stotra if it gives comfort. As on the Bhaktamar pages, what is constant is the text and the bow it teaches, and the practical uses attached to it vary from teacher to teacher.
The authorship is also a tradition. Shvetambara accounts ascribe the hymn to Bhadrabahu, the name also given to the author of the Kalpa Sutra. Which Bhadrabahu that is, and when he lived, is disputed; a well-known story ties the hymn to a plague, and different tellings place it centuries apart. We have not tried to settle it.
Practising It the Jain Way
- Say the five verses slowly, once. The text is short enough that understanding it takes less time than hurrying it.
- Keep the request in the last verse as the centre. If you can only keep one thought from the hymn, keep bohi.
- If the Prakrit is unfamiliar, begin with the Navkar Mantra and read the meanings above before reciting.
How This Text Was Established
There is no critical edition of this hymn online and no Wikisource text, so the sourcing rests on printed editions. We read the text from a clean Hindi pratikraman manual and checked it word by word against older printed books scanned by the Digital Library of India on archive.org:
- Devasia Raia Pratikraman Sutra, Babulal Jaysinghlal Mehta, 1953 (item 2015.307076), read directly as the base text.
- Kalyan-mandir Stotra (Hindi commentary by Upadhyay Amarchandra, Sanmati Gyanpith, Agra), which also prints the five verses (item 2015.441411).
- Panchapratikramanadisutrani, Shri Jain Shreyaskar Mandal, Mehsana, printed at Nirnaya Sagar Press, 1914 (item 2015.553632), and Panch Pratikraman Sutra Sahvidhi, 1916 (item 2015.549872). The text layer of these two is noisy and was used only to confirm or decide between readings.
- The English Wikipedia article on the stotra, as a modern check on the five-verse text.
All five verses agree across these witnesses, apart from spelling. Three points of difference are worth knowing:
- Verse 5 begins ia (इअ) in the printed pratikraman books and iya in some others; Wikipedia and the Jain24 Digambara text have iha (इह). We print the form found in the printed manuals.
- The Prakrit spells the same sound with or without the glide y: hiaeṇa in our text, hiyaeṇa in some editions. This is spelling, not a different word.
- A Digambara recension printed by the Jain24 website has seven verses, in a different Prakrit dialect (for example ṇiṇṇāsaṁ, dhāredi, hidayeṇa), with sarise (“equal to”) where the Shvetambara text has bbhahie (“surpassing”) in verse 4, and with two further verses, one of which names Bhadrabahu. That is a different text tradition and we have not merged it with the five-verse Shvetambara hymn.
We did not use the Gujarati-script scans we found, because their text layer was too poor to read.
Frequently asked questions
↳ What does Uvasaggaharam mean?
It means "remover of afflictions". Uvasagga is the Prakrit form of upasarga, an affliction that comes from outside during spiritual practice, and haram means one who removes it. The word begins the hymn and gives it its name.
↳ Who wrote the Uvasaggaharam Stotra?
Tradition ascribes it to Bhadrabahu. Which teacher of that name is meant, and when he lived, is disputed, and different accounts place the hymn centuries apart, so the authorship is best treated as traditional.
↳ How many verses does it have?
The Shvetambara text has five. A Digambara recension in a different Prakrit dialect has seven. The two share the same core, but they are separate editions of the hymn.
↳ Is it a prayer for removing illness or planetary trouble?
The second verse mentions troubles from planets, illness and fever, and tradition treats it as protective. The hymn itself asks for awakening in its last verse, and it is not a substitute for medical care. Recite it for the comfort and the thought it carries.
↳ When is it recited?
It is recited as one of the Nav Smaran in the morning, on its own, and widely on Parshvanatha observances such as Posh Dashami. There is no single prescribed time.