Saundarya Lahari

The Saundarya Lahari, a devotional poem of one hundred hymns, is ascribed to the great teacher Shankaracharya. The poem is divided into two parts; the first part, comprised of verses 1 through 41, is called the Anandalahari, or Wave of Bliss, and verses 42 through 100 comprise the Saundaryalahari, or Wave of Beauty. There are three additional verses, found as verses 101 through 103, which are considered to be interpolations of other scholars, but are included in recensions of the whole work. The hymn, written in the shikharini metre, extols in the Anandalahari, the dynamic aspect of Brahman, as Shakti, manifestations for worship, and the modes of internal meditation. The second part, the Saundaryalahari, contains a magnificent exposition of the beauties of the charming form of the Divine Mother.