Listen and chant along
Play the audio or the video and follow the stotra text below.
1. Om Shanaishcharaaya Namah
2. Om Shaantaaya Namah
3. Om Sarvaabheeshtapradaayine Namah
4. Om Sharanyaaya Namah
5. Om Varenyaaya Namah
6. Om Sarveshaaya Namah
7. Om Saumyaaya Namah
8. Om Suravandyaaya Namah
9. Om Suralokavihaarine Namah
10. Om Sukhaasanopavishtaaya Namah
11. Om Sundaraaya Namah
12. Om Ghanaroopaaya Namah
13. Om Ghanaabharanadhaarine Namah
14. Om Ghanasaaravilepanaaya Namah
15. Om Khadyotaaya Namah
16. Om Mandaaya Namah
17. Om Mandacheshtaaya Namah
18. Om Vairaagyadaaya Namah
19. Om Veeraaya Namah
20. Om Veetarogabhayaaya Namah
21. Om Vipatparampareshaaya Namah
22. Om Vishvavandyaaya Namah
23. Om Gridhravaahaaya Namah
24. Om Goodhaaya Namah
25. Om Koormaangaaya Namah
26. Om Kuroopine Namah
27. Om Kutsitaaya Namah
28. Om Gunaadhyaaya Namah
29. Om Gocharaaya Namah
30. Om Avidyaamoolanaashaaya Namah
31. Om Vidyaavidyaasvaroopine Namah
32. Om Aayushyakaaranaaya Namah
33. Om Aapaduddhartre Namah
34. Om Vishnubhaktaaya Namah
35. Om Vashine Namah
36. Om Vividhaagamavedine Namah
37. Om Vidhistutyaaya Namah
38. Om Mahaaneeyagunaatmane Namah
39. Om Martyapaavanapaadaaya Namah
40. Om Maheshaaya Namah
41. Om Chhaayaaputraaya Namah
42. Om Sharvaaya Namah
43. Om Sharatooneeradhaarine Namah
44. Om Charasthirasvabhaavaaya Namah
45. Om Chanchalaaya Namah
46. Om Neelavarnaaya Namah
47. Om Nityaaya Namah
48. Om Neelaanjananibhaaya Namah
49. Om Neelaambaravibhooshaaya Namah
50. Om Nishchalaaya Namah
51. Om Vedyaaya Namah
52. Om Vidhiroopaaya Namah
53. Om Virodhaadhaarabhoomaye Namah
54. Om Vedaaspadasvabhaavaaya Namah
55. Om Vajradehaaya Namah
56. Om Vandyaaya Namah
57. Om Viroopaakshaaya Namah
58. Om Varishthaaya Namah
59. Om Garishthaaya Namah
60. Om Vajraankushadharaaya Namah
61. Om Varadaaya Namah
62. Om Abhayahastaaya Namah
63. Om Vaamanaaya Namah
64. Om Jyeshthapatnee Sametaaya Namah
65. Om Shreshthaaya Namah
66. Om Mitabhaashine Namah
67. Om Kashtaughanaashakaaya Namah
68. Om Aaryapushtidaaya Namah
69. Om Stutyaaya Namah
70. Om Stotragamyaaya Namah
71. Om Bhaktivashyaaya Namah
72. Om Bhaanave Namah
73. Om Bhaanuputraaya Namah
74. Om Bhavyaaya Namah
75. Om Paavanaaya Namah
76. Om Dhanurmandala Samsthaaya Namah
77. Om Dhanadaaya Namah
78. Om Dhanushmate Namah
79. Om Tanuprakaasha Dehaaya Namah
80. Om Taamasaaya Namah
81. Om Asheshajana Vandyaaya Namah
82. Om Visheshaphaladaayine Namah
83. Om Vasheekritajaneshaaya Namah
84. Om Pasoonaampataye Namah
85. Om Khecharaaya Namah
86. Om Khageshaaya Namah
87. Om Ghananeelaambaraaya Namah
88. Om Kaathinyamaanasaaya Namah
89. Om Aaryaganastutyaaya Namah
90. Om Neelachchhatraaya Namah
91. Om Nityaaya Namah
92. Om Nirgunaaya Namah
93. Om Gunaatmane Namah
94. Om Niraamayaaya Namah
95. Om Nindyaaya Namah
96. Om Vandaneeyaaya Namah
97. Om Dheeraaya Namah
98. Om Divyadehaaya Namah
99. Om Deenaarti Haranaaya Namah
100. Om Dainyanaashakaraaya Namah
101. Om Aaryajanaganyaaya Namah
102. Om Krooraaya Namah
103. Om Kroora Cheshtaaya Namah
104. Om Kaamakrodhakaraaya Namah
105. Om Kalatraputrashatrutvakaaranaaya Namah
106. Om Pariposhitabhaktaaya Namah
107. Om Parabheetiharaaya Namah
108. Om Bhaktasangha Manobheeshta Phaladaaya Namah
Iti Shree Shani Ashtottara Shatanaamaavali
Meaning
Shani Ashtottara Shatanamavali is the list of 108 names of Shani, the graha of the planet Saturn, spoken one at a time with Om in front and namah at the end. It opens Om Shanaishcharaya Namah, Om Shantaya Namah. Saturday is his weekday, and in most households the names are taken up then, in front of a sesame-oil lamp.
Significance
The name Shanaishchara itself means the slow one: shanaih, slowly, and chara, moving. Saturn sits roughly two and a half years in each rashi and needs about thirty years to finish the zodiac, which is why jyotisha reads him as the graha of long consequences rather than sudden ones. Read the names and something becomes obvious. Shanta, the calm one. Sarvabhishtaprada, giver of all that is wished for. Sharanya, one worth taking refuge in. The list does not address a tormentor; it addresses someone who can be appealed to. His parentage runs through it too, as Chhayasuta and Suryaputra, the son of Chhaya and of the sun, and brother to Yama. A namavali is a list rather than a narrative stotra, so it does not usually carry a long phala-shruti of its own; the sankalpa spoken at the start of the puja is what holds the intent. Tradition holds that these names are kept up through sade-sati and ashtama Shani. No text says the transit is cancelled. What tradition asks for is the steadiness to meet it.
How and when to chant
Saturday, after the morning bath, or at dusk in pradosha kala. Light the lamp with sesame oil. Black sesame, urad dal, and black or dark blue cloth are the usual offerings. One round of 108 is enough; those doing archana place a few sesame seeds or a flower at each name. Shani Trayodashi, a trayodashi that falls on a Saturday, and Shani Amavasya draw larger recitation. Shani Jayanti moves by region, kept on the Vaishakha amavasya in some places and the Jyeshtha amavasya in others, so follow your own panchanga. Setting a sesame-oil lamp at the foot of an ashwattha tree on Saturday evening is common across Karnataka, and in most Karnataka temples Shani is approached at the navagraha sannidhi rather than at a separate shrine.
Frequently asked questions
What are the first three names in the Shani Ashtottara Shatanamavali?
Which of Shani's 108 names speak of his parents?
How do the Shani Ashtottaram names describe his mount and colour?
Why does the Shani namavali include harsh names such as Krura?
How is the Shani Ashtottaram used in Saturday worship?
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