Stoma

By Swami Harshananda

Stoma literally means ‘praise’.

Stotras are the Ṛgvedic mantras set to the Sāmavedic tunes. A stoma is a group of such verses and has several names depending on the number of repetitions. They are:

1. Pañcadaśastoma
2. Saptadaśastoma
3. Ekaviiṅśastoma
4. Etc.

These stomas are arranged in two or more different varieties called viṣṭuti. For instance, the ājyastotra consists of three verses which can be called a, b and c. Then in a pañcadaśastoma of 15 verses the arrangement will be as follows:

1. 1st paryāya or round a a a b c
2. 2nd paryāya or round a b b b c
3. 3rd paryāya or round a b c c c

This is called pañcapañcinī-viṣṭuti.

References

• The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore

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