rudrAshtadhyAyI

In contrast with rUdraM of krishna yajurveda , shukla yajurveda have rudrAshtadhyAyI .Literally rudrAshtadhyAyI means eight chapters dedicated to rUdra but  actually having mantras dedicated to ganpatI ,heart ( shivasamkalpa suktaM ) ,purUsha , shrI ,surya (mitra ) ,Indra , bruhaspatI, rUdra,rUdra svasA, ambikA, shAntI devtAs consisting of 10 chapters ( 2 additional chapters ) . There are 6 different versions of rudrAshtadhyAyI prevalent in north India.

1) agnipurAnokta version

2) rUdropAsanakalpadrUM version

3) devyAgnika paddhatI version

4) parashUrAma paddhatI version

5) shatrUdriya version ( rUdraM )

6) bruhad rudrAshtadhyAyI version

Following is an overview of common and largest version ( bruhad rudrAshtadhyAyI version ) .

* prathamOdhyAya (1st chapter )

Starts with very famous mantra ‘ganANAntvA o ‘ in it’s shukla yajurveda version. This chapter also consists of shiva samkalpaM .It is dedicated to mahAganpatI and mana ( heart ).It consists of total 10 mantras.

* dvitIyodhyAya ( 2nd chapter)

It houses purUsh suktaM, UttarnArAyana suktaM and very famous ‘shrishha te ‘ mantra ( dedicated to srI devI and bhu devI ).Dedicated to purUsha nArAyana with srI devI and bhu devI .It consists of 22 mantras.

* trutIyodhyAya ( 3rd chapter )

It houses apratiraThaM ( apratiratha suktaM ) and UttarapratiraThaM dedicated to war god Indra and his purOhita ( priest ) bruhaspatI.
In old paddhatI granThas UttarapratiraThaM is not included. ( 3 versions don’t have this UttarapratiraThaM mantras ) This have 17 mantras according to bruhad version  and 12 mantras ( excluding 5 mantras of  UttarapratiraThaM  ) according to old paddhatI granThas.

* chaturthodhyAya ( 4th chapter )

It is dedicated to sun god in mitra form. It consists of 17 mantras.

* panchamodhyAya ( 5th chapter )

This is dedicated to rUdra .It is also known as namakAdhyAya ( namakaM ) due to denser use of phrases ‘namaste’ and ‘namo’ ( apparently denser use of na sound ).It have 66 mantras
, kanva shAkhA have 64 mantras instead of 66 mantras.

* shashtodhyAya ( 6 th chapter )

It is dedicated to rUdra and his parivAra devtAs ( family deities ) .It consists of 8 mantras .Old paddhatIkAras don’t include it in rudrAshtadhyAyI. It is also known as ‘mahicchara adhyAya’ .

* saptamoadhyAya ( 7th chapter )

This is most controversial chapter of rudrAshtadhyAyI .Only bruhad version includes this mantras. Some of old paddhatIkAras don’t include it in rudrAshtadhyAyI .Some paddhatIkAras include only 3 mantras out of 7 , as rest of the mantras are employed in chitA homa .It consist of total 7 mantras .It is dedicated to  offsprings of rUdra i.e. marUta ganas and sharira devtAs .It is also known as jatAdhyAya.

* ashtamodhyAya ( 8th chapter )

It houses chamakaM .It is also known as chamakAdhyAya due to denser use of phrase ‘cha me ‘. It is dedicated directly to agni and apparently to vishvedevAs. It consist of total 29 mantras.

*shantyAdhyAya ( chapter of pacifying )

This portion is additionally and  integrally recited as part of rudrAshtadhyAyI from ancient time .It consists of 24 mantras dedicated to pacifying deities of pravargya rite. It falls under the shukriya section of shukla yajurveda and generally not recited in night.

* svastI prArThana mantradhyAya ( chapter of blessings )

It is additionally and  integrally recited as part of rudrAshtadhyAyI from ancient time .It consists of 13 mantras (one from shatpatha brAhmanaM )  dedicated to Ashi devtAs.

Pdf of rudrAshtadhyAyI

1) rudrAshtadhyAyI text

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