About the Lakshmi Shobhane
Sri Vadiraja Tirtha woke up one morning at Brahmi Muhurta and composed this song. Five hundred years later, you still cannot have a Madhva wedding without it. It is in Kannada, not Sanskrit. It tells the story of how Mahalakshmi rose out of the churning ocean of milk, and how Vishnu took her hand. The sumangalis gather around the bride and groom and lift the refrain: 'Shōbhāne, shōbhāne, shubha-shōbhāne.' For as long as the song lasts, the couple are not themselves. They are Lakshmi and Narayana, and the song is the blessing. The form is the shōbhane, a Kannada folk genre of auspicious wedding-song with a returning chorus. Unmarried girls sing it for a good husband. Newlyweds sing it for a long marriage. Mothers sing it for daughters who are about to leave the house. It is a raksha. A protection.
Chant the full Lakshmi Shobhane in ChantWise
Free, in your browser. No signup. Add anyone with a link.
Chant all 58 verses → The opening verses are below.
Pallavi
1
śobhānavènnirè suraròl̤u śubhaganigè
śobhānavènni suguṇanigè
śobhānavènnirè trivikramarāyagè
śobhānavènni surapriyagè śobhānè
Lakshmi Shobhane
2
lakṣmīnārāyaṇara caraṇakkè śaraṇèṃbè
pakṣivāhannagèraguvè
pakṣivāhannagèraguvè anudina
rakṣisali namma vadhūvarara
3
pālasāgaravannu līlèyali kaḍèyalu
bālè mahālakṣumi udisidal̤u
bālè mahālakṣumi udisidal̤ā devi
pālisali namma vadhūvarara
4
bòmmana pral̤ayadali tannarasiyòḍagūḍi
summanèyāgi malagippa
namma nārāyaṇagu ī rammègaḍigaḍigu
janmavèṃbudu avatāra
5
kaṃbukaṃṭhada sutta kaṭṭida maṃgal̤asūtra
aṃbujavèraḍu karayugadi
aṃbujavèraḍu karayugadi dharisi
pītāṃbaravanuṭṭu mèrèdal̤è
Pallavi
58
śobhānavènnirè suraròl̤u śubhaganigè
śobhānavènni suguṇanigè
śobhānavènnirè trivikramarāyagè
śobhānavènni surapriyagè śobhānè
That's the opening and the closing. The full Lakshmi Shobhane continues for 52 more verses in between.
Free, in your browser. No signup. Add anyone with a link.
Chant all 58 verses → Frequently asked about Lakshmi Shobhane
- Who composed Lakshmi Shobhane?
- Lakshmi Shobhane is traditionally attributed to Sri Vadiraja Tirtha (Vadirajaru), 16th-century Madhva saint of Sode Mutt (Sri Vadiraja Tirtha's Lakshmi Shobhana Pada).
- How many verses are in Lakshmi Shobhane?
- Lakshmi Shobhane has 58 verses, set in the Shobhane - Kannada Folk/lullaby metre.
- Which deity is Lakshmi Shobhane addressed to?
- Lakshmi Shobhane is a prayer to Mahalakshmi.
- In which languages can I read Lakshmi Shobhane?
- ChantWise offers Lakshmi Shobhane in English, Sanskrit, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Gujarati — including English (IAST script) on this page.
Reading it in Roman letters
The Lakshmi Shobhane is a Kannada song of blessing for Lakshmi and Narayana, composed by the sixteenth-century Madhva saint Sri Vadiraja Tirtha and sung for centuries at Madhva weddings and auspicious gatherings in Karnataka. A shobhane is a wedding song, sung to bless a marriage and a home, and this one calls the grace of Lakshmi for prosperity, for a happy marriage, and for the wellbeing of the family. It belongs to the Haridasa tradition, the great stream of Kannada devotion that gave us Purandara Dasa and Kanaka Dasa. This version is written in Roman letters with diacritic marks, so anyone who reads the Roman alphabet can follow the Kannada words and sing along. A line above a vowel holds it longer, and a dot beneath a letter marks the sounds made with the tongue curled back.