Stotram
1
veṃkaṭeśo vāsudevaḥ pradyumno'mitavikramaḥ |
saṃkarṣaṇo'niruddhaśca śeṣādripatireva ca
2
janārdanaḥ padmanābho veṃkaṭācalavāsinaḥ |
sṛṣṭikartā jagannātho mādhavo bhaktavatsalaḥ
3
goviṃdo gopatiḥ kṛṣṇaḥ keśavo garuḍadhvajaḥ |
varāho vāmanaścaiva nārāyaṇa adhokṣajaḥ
4
śrīdharaḥ puṃḍarīkākṣaḥ sarvadevastuto hariḥ |
śrīnṛsiṃho mahāsiṃhaḥ sūtrākāraḥ purātanaḥ
5
ramānātho mahībhartā bhūdharaḥ puruṣottamaḥ |
col̤aputrapriyaḥ śāṃto brahmādīnāṃ varapradaḥ
Stotram
16
iti śrī brahmāṃḍapurāṇe brahmanāradasaṃvāde veṃkaṭagirimāhātmye śrī veṃkaṭeśa aṣṭakam
Reading it in Roman letters
This is the Venkatesha Stotram in Roman letters with diacritic marks, the system used to write Sanskrit sounds exactly. It praises Venkateswara, the Lord of the seven hills who stands at Tirumala, one of the most visited shrines on earth, and the verses come from the Brahmanda Purana, from the greatness of the Venkata mountain told by Brahma to Narada. Known also as Balaji and Srinivasa, he is worshipped by millions, and Balaji temples now stand on every continent, wherever Indian families have settled. People chant the stotra on Saturdays, the Lord's own day, and as a daily refuge, for protection, for relief from debt and worry, and out of love. The diacritics do simple work: a line above a vowel holds it longer, and a dot beneath a letter marks the retroflex sounds. Read exactly what is printed and the verses come out as they would from Devanagari.