नीलाञ्जनसमाभासं

Nilanjana Samabhasam

The Śani Mantra

Śloka from the Navagraha Stotra · anuṣṭubh
Sanskrit
Navagraha Stotra, verse 7, ascribed to Vyāsa

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नीलाञ्जनसमाभासं रविपुत्रं यमाग्रजम् ।
छायामार्तण्डसम्भूतं तं नमामि शनैश्चरम् ॥

nilanjanasamabhasam raviputram yamagrajam |
chhayamartandasambhutam tam namami shanaishcharam ||

निळ्या अंजनासारखी कांती असलेल्या, सूर्याच्या पुत्राला, यमाच्या ज्येष्ठ बंधूला, छाया आणि मार्तंड यांच्यापासून जन्मलेल्या त्या शनैश्चराला मी नमस्कार करतो.

नीले अंजन के समान आभा वाले, सूर्य के पुत्र, यम के बड़े भाई, छाया और मार्तण्ड से उत्पन्न, उन शनैश्चर को मैं नमस्कार करता हूँ।

Shining like dark-blue collyrium, the son of the Sun, the elder brother of Yama, born of Chāyā and Mārtaṇḍa: to him, Śanaiścara, I bow.

Word by word (English) & note

नीलाञ्जन: dark-blue collyrium
समाभासम्: shining like
रविपुत्रम्: son of the Sun
यमाग्रजम्: elder brother of Yama
छायामार्तण्डसम्भूतम्: born of Chāyā and Mārtaṇḍa, the Sun
नमामि: I bow
शनैश्चरम्: to Śanaiścara, the slow-moving one

Añjana is the dark collyrium (kājal) that lines the eyes; the colour is a deep blue-black. Mārtaṇḍa is a name of the Sun, and Chāyā, ‘Shadow’, the mother the verse names. Agraja means ‘elder brother’, so यमाग्रज is usually read ‘elder brother of Yama’, though it can also mean ‘whose elder brother is Yama’; Yama too is a son of the Sun. Śanaiścara means ‘the slow-moving one’. In the Gita Press Navagraha pūjā the same verse invites Śani, beginning नीलाम्बुजसमाभासं, ‘like a blue lotus’, and ending शनिमावाहयाम्यहम्, ‘I invite Śani’.

Nilanjan Samabhasam · shlokpath.com/chant/shani-mantra/

Translations stay close to the words; words we supply are in [brackets]. Where a line is read in more than one way, the note beside it says so. How we edit → Found an error in this text? Tell us.

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परंपराProvenance

Traditional attribution

व्यास (परंपरेनुसार)

Attributed to Vyāsa

Undated

The Navagraha Stotra ends by calling itself ‘sung from Vyāsa’s mouth’ (व्यासमुखोद्गीतम्), and printings title it ‘composed by Vyāsa’. Where it was first written down is not known.

Source

Navagraha Stotra, verse 7, ascribed to Vyāsa

Text checked against

Sanskrit Wikisource: नवग्रहस्तोत्रम्, the base
Gita Press, Nityakarma-Pūjāprakāśa (no. 592): श्रीनवग्रहस्तोत्रम्, and the Navagraha pūjā
Bṛhat Stotra Ratnākara: the Khemraj printing (1906), p. 382, and the Nirṇaya Sāgar printing (1932), no. 171, p. 363, read in scans

Context

The seventh of the nine verses of the Navagraha Stotra, one verse for each of the nine planets of Indian astronomy, from the Sun to Ketu. Each verse describes its planet and bows to it; this one bows to Śani, Saturn, son of the Sun. Said on its own, it serves as Śani’s mantra, especially on Saturdays.

Recited