Chapter Seven: Literature of the Rasika Tradition

Śrī Sahasra-gīti

The Śrī Sahasra-gīti is a supremely authoritative work of sweet worship composed by Sri Shathakopa Muni, the first teacher of the Sri Sampradaya and the ancient foundation of the lineage of those who have taken refuge. Shathakopa Muni was one of the foremost Alvar devotees of the South. The Alvars’ worship is principally in the sweet disposition, although the serving disposition is also mingled with it.

There were twelve Alvars in all. Among them, Shathakopa, Kulashekhara, and Andal are especially renowned. Most songs in the Sahasra-gīti address Narayana, Krishna, Govinda, Hari, or Madhava; yet one also finds a few songs, steeped in the sweet disposition, addressed to Sri Rama.¹ In any event, the entire work is like a necklace worn by practitioners of sweet worship, who study and contemplate it with profound devotional feeling.

The text is thought to date from the seventh century. It contains ten centuries, each century comprising ten decades, and each decade normally containing eleven songs. The seventh decade of the second century alone contains thirteen, and the sixth decade of the fifth century contains twenty-two. The work thus consists of ten centuries, one hundred decades, and 1,113 songs.

Its contents may be summarized as follows:

1. First century: exclusive service to Bhagavan is the supreme human goal.
2. Second century: the Lord alone is the supreme object of enjoyment.
3. Third century: praise and service of the Lord’s consecrated image-manifestation are the means to blessedness.
4. Fourth century: the pair of the Lord’s feet protects living beings in every way.
5. Fifth century: Narayana alone grants liberation to the jīvas.
6. Sixth century: one should take refuge in Bhagavan by first taking refuge in Lakshmi.
7. Seventh century: worldly pleasures obstruct the attainment of God.
8. Eighth century: the means of renouncing worldly objects and the notions of “I” and “mine.”