kāvyakaṇṭha vāsiṣṭha śrī gaṇapati muni viracitam umāsahasram
Uma Sahasram
dvādaśaḥ stabakaḥ - rathoddhatāvṛttam
The twelfth Stabaka, entitled **Śṛṅgāra-varṇanam — “Description of Divine Love and Romantic Beauty”**, portrays the playful and intimate love between Umā and Śiva amid the beauty of the mountain groves. Bees, deer, cuckoos, flowering creepers, fragrant breezes, moonlight and the sounds of spring become participants in their divine romance. Śiva speaks to the Goddess with affection and poetic admiration, praising Her eyes, lips, smile, hair, breasts and tender feet. The title is therefore fully justified: the entire Stabaka is woven around **śṛṅgāra-rasa**, presenting the divine couple not in abstract metaphysical terms, but through tenderness, attraction, playfulness and conjugal intimacy.
Yet Muni carefully elevates this śṛṅgāra beyond ordinary sensuality. The lovers are none other than **Śiva and Śakti**, the cosmic principles whose union underlies manifestation itself. The apparent paradox is beautifully stated: Umā is the destroyer of Mahiṣa and established in spiritual discipline, while Śiva is the destroyer of Kāma—yet who can truly comprehend the secret of love between these two? Their divine play is finally linked to the birth of Gaṇapati and Skanda and therefore to the welfare of the worlds. What appears as romantic līlā thus becomes **cosmic creative līlā**, in which love, creation and divine purpose are inseparable.
This Stabaka displays Gaṇapati Muni’s exceptional command of **śṛṅgāra-kāvya, nature imagery, dialogue, humour, wordplay and rasa**. He gives Śiva a remarkably human and charming poetic voice, while simultaneously preserving the divine dignity of both Śiva and Umā. The lively **Rathoddhatā metre** suits the movement, elegance and emotional vitality of the scene. The concluding verse explicitly calls these compositions *mādhurī-rasa-pariplutāḥ*—overflowing with the rasa of sweetness—and offers them to the Daughter of the Mountain for Her delight. With this refined union of poetry, devotion and sacred śṛṅgāra, Muni brings the **third Śatakam** to a graceful conclusion.
dvādaśaḥ stabakaḥ - rathoddhatāvṛttam
śṛṅgāravarṇanam
śarvadhairyaguṇaśātaśastrikā śambarārijayaketupadmikā ।
mandahāsakalikā madāpadaṃ parvatendraduhiturvyapohatu ॥ 276 ॥
muktabhogikaṭakena pāṇinā mugdhagātri parigṛhya te karam ।
ekadā śaśikiśoraśekharaḥ sañcacāra rajatādribhūmiṣu ॥ 277 ॥
tasya tatra paritaḥ paribhraman vallabhāṃ vakulapuṣpacumbinīm ।
pārvati tvadalakopamadyutiḥ cañcarīkataruṇo mano'dhunot ॥ 278 ॥
preyasīṃ capalacārulocanāmullikhan vapuṣi śṛṅgakoṭinā ।
tvadvilokitanibhairvilokitaiḥ dhūrjaṭeramadayanmano mṛgaḥ ॥ 279 ॥
mañjukuñjabhavanāni mālatīpuṣpareṇusurabhiḥ samīraṇaḥ ।
peśalā ca pikabālakākalī mohamīśvari harasya tenire ॥ 280 ॥
agrataḥ kusumaśobhitā latāḥ pārśvatastvamagapālabālike ।
sarvato madanaśiñjinīdhvanirdhīratā kathamivāsya vartatām ॥ 281 ॥
kīrakūjitasamākule vane śambhumamba tava pārśvavartinam ।
ājaghāna makaradhvajaśśarairardayantyavasare hi śatravaḥ ॥ 282 ॥
tāḍito makaraketunā śarairaṃsadeśamavalambya pāṇinā ।
ekahāyanakuraṅgalocanāṃ tvāmidaṃ kila jagāda śaṅkaraḥ ॥ 283 ॥
kākalīkalakalaṃ karotyasau bālacūtamadhiruhya kokilā ।
vācamudgira sarojalocane garvamunnatamiyaṃ vimuñcatu ॥ 284 ॥
phullakundamakarandavāhino mallikāmukuladhūlidhāriṇaḥ ।
kampayanti śiśavaḥ samīraṇāḥ pallavāni hṛdayaṃ ca tanvi me ॥ 285 ॥
varṇanena hṛtacakṣuṣaḥ śriyaḥ suprasannamadhurākṛtīni te ।
aṅgakāni dayite bhaje'rbhakaḥ svedabinduharaṇena vā'nilaḥ ॥ 286 ॥
tāvadeva mama cetaso mude barhametadanaghāṅgi barhiṇaḥ ।
yāvadakṣipathameṣa viślatho gāhate na kabarībharastava ॥ 287 ॥
rāgavānadhara eṣa santataṃ nirmaladvijasamīpavartyapi ।
ebhirasya sahavāsataḥ priye neṣadapyapagato nijo guṇaḥ ॥ 288 ॥
cakṣuṣaḥ sudati te sagotratā kairavairniśi dine kuśeśayaiḥ ।
kaśyapairapi vasiṣṭhabāndhavairbhūsuparvaṇa iva dvigotrinaḥ ॥ 289 ॥
alpayā'pyatisamarthayā smitajyotsnayā gaganagaṃ harattamaḥ ।
kevalaṃ suvacanāmṛtaṃ kiraccandrabimbamatuṣāramānanam ॥ 290 ॥
nityamabjamukhi te parasparaśliṣṭamaślathapaṭīkuṭīragam ।
śarvarībhayavivarjitaṃ sthalīcakravākamithunaṃ kucadvayam ॥ 291 ॥
lālanīyamayi devamaulibhiḥ komalaṃ caraṇapallavadvayam ।
kaccidadripuruhūtaputrike na sthalī tudati karkaśā tava ॥ 292 ॥
evamādi vadati trilocane tvanmukhe lasati maunamudrayā ।
ātatāna jalacāriketano nartanaṃ nagamahendrabālike ॥ 293 ॥
devi te purajitāvataṃsitaḥ pārijātakusumassrajā kacaḥ ।
mānasaṃ purajito'munā hṛtaṃ smaryate kva malinātmanā kṛtam ॥ 294 ॥
brahmacaryaniyamādacañcalā nāyikā yadi lulāyamardinī ।
nāyakaśca sumabāṇasūdano veda ko ratirahasyametayoḥ ॥ 295 ॥
locanotsavavidhau viśārade vāridāvaraṇadoṣavarjite ।
mardayatyapi nabhogataṃ tamaḥ śyāmikārahitasundarākṛtau ॥ 296 ॥
bhāti śītakiraṇastanandhaye prāṇanāyakajaṭākuṭījuṣi ।
śubhraparvatataṭe śubhāṅgi te sammadāya na babhūva kā niśā ॥ 297 ॥
santu bhūṣaṇasudhāṃśudīdhiti vyaktamugdhamukhaśobhayormithaḥ ।
tāni tāni girijāgirīśayoḥ krīḍitāni jagato vibhūtaye ॥ 298 ॥
modakādanaparasya sṛṣṭaye krīḍitaṃ janani vāṃ kimapyabhūt ।
śaktibhṛttanayarātnajanmane kiñcidīśvari babhūva khelanam ॥ 299 ॥
mādhurīrasapariplutā imāḥ kāvyakaṇṭhaviduṣo rathoddhatāḥ ।
ādadhatvacalanāthanandinī mānase kamapi modamuttamam ॥ 300 ॥
॥ samāptaṃ ca tṛtīyaṃ śatakam ॥