Parāstotra - Edition and Study

This study focuses on a rare stotra kavya of Kuzhikkāṭṭu Śankaran Bhaṭṭatirippādu at Kuzhikkāṭṭillam, Pathanamthitta District, Kerala. This work, known as Parāstotra comes under the category of Tāntric stotra literature. Here, this article introduces three manuscripts of Parāstotra (Manuscript No. 17798-G, MS. No. 17860 A1, and MS No. T 1539) and also the edition of the manuscript (MS. No. T. 1539) as a simple edition method. The study begins with a brief overview of the history of stotra literature, its divisional peculiarities, Tāntric stotra literature etc. Then the second part of the work concentrates more on the editing process of the proposed text in Malayalam script at the highest level, MS No. T 1539 and attempts to transliterate from Malayalam to Sanskrit. In addition to this, the section also deals with the details of manuscripts, colophon details and introduces the significance of Parāstotra. Key Words Stotra, Tantra, Tāntric stotra, Śakti, Garttavana.