Shri Lalitha Sahasranamam: Namam 848: Shri Udara kirthi (ōṃ udārakīrtayē namaḥ

The Divine Mother possesses exalted fame.

The Divine Mother is the store house of exalted fame. She is pervading the wider universe. Each sector of the universe is at appropriate level. There may be questions as to where deserts belong, which are the universal parts also. But when we hear the poets’ view of the deserts, we can appreciate the beauties they possess. Bhagavathi is the store house of all divine assets. The devotee praises the Divine Mother through his worships. Such praising of Brahman’s or the Divine Mother’s fame is applicable to all other divinities under Her control.  With exalted fame, She removes the ignorance and grants Her devotees the maturity forever worshipping Her.

Without thinking of smallness, the matured people aim for the higher level things. Material wealth is diminishable. Those distribute material wealth to others, gain their praises. The Divine Mother with all Her Kirti or fame, spreads the fame easily to Her devotees.

“From diseases, the human suffers. He prays to his chosen deity for relief. Similarly, all souls seek the knowledge of Brahman and material wealth in current life; But the yogis seek Brahman. Even though there may be other means, yogis believe in divine blessings to solve their problems. Krishna says in Gita that yogis are great people”.  Likewise, the devotees seeking and surrendering to the Divine Mother, get their suffering eliminated.She grants them praise and fame. The Divine Mother is in great fame form. Separating the Nama syllables as Udara plus Kirti gives above meaning.

The Nama syllables can also be separated as: Ud plus a plus ara plus kirti giving the meaning, “one whose worship of the Divine Mother gets quickly exalted and all-pervading fame.”

Ud signifies the golden person in the disc of the Sun. Chandogya Upanishad (I.1.6 and 7) says, “That person, good as gold, who is seen within the Sun. His name is Ud”.  Bhaskaracarya gives this interpretation that the Divine Mother’s worship gives the devotees fame that exceeds that of the person ud in the Sun. “Udara kirthi is fame that is glorious as the nectar of moonlight. Good fame is white as moonlight and ill fame is dark in colour. This can mean also that the Divine Mother is that moonlight and one who confers fame to Her devotees.

She dispels (ud) the influence of evil deities (ara) such as Mangala (the planet Mars or the deity of anger, aggression as well as war.

   The Divine Mother possesses exalted fame.   

 

C N Nachiappan

Singapore, 21 May 2022; updated 15 August 2025.

 

References:

1.     The Thousand Names of the Divine Mother published in English by Mata Amritanandamis AparnaSan Ramon, California, USA, with Commentary by T. V Narayana Menon

2.     Shri Lalitha Sahasranama Stostram published in Tamil by N. Ramaswami Iyer charities’ societies, Trichirapalli, India, with Commentary by C. V. Radhakrishna Sastry.

3.     The Lalitha Sahasranamam published in Tamil by Shri Ramakrishna Thapovanam, Thiruipparaithurai, Trichy District, Tamilnadu, India with commentary by Shrimath Swami Sithbavandar