Mantras

Matru Panchakam: Sanskrit Text, Meaning & Significance (Adi Shankara)

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Astro Logics Admin

27 August 2026 · 6 min read

Matru Panchakam: Sanskrit Text, Meaning & Significance (Adi Shankara)

A son's grief transformed into undying tribute

The Matru Panchakam occupies a singular place in the Advaitic corpus attributed to Adi Shankaracharya - not because it expounds philosophy, but because it steps entirely outside philosophy into raw human feeling. Five verses, five moments of grief and gratitude at the side of a departing mother: this is the composition as the tradition understands it. What makes it extraordinary is the tension it holds between the Shankaracharya who had renounced the world and the son who returned to fulfil his promise to his mother. That tension is not resolved in the text; it is felt in every verse, and that honesty of feeling is what has made the Matru Panchakam a touchstone for filial devotion across centuries.

In devotional and domestic practice, the Matru Panchakam is recited on Shraddha days, during matru-tarpana, and on Mondays - a day associated with the Moon, who governs the mother, the home, and emotional memory in the Jyotish tradition. The fourth house in a birth chart, also ruled by the Moon, represents the mother and the inner life; recitation of this stotra on difficult Moon transits is believed by many devotees to bring comfort and a deepening of the matru-bhakti that nourishes the soul. Whether recited in grief or in gratitude, the Panchakam reminds us that care freely given and the love returned across the threshold of mortality is itself a form of the sacred.

Shri Matru Panchakam - Sanskrit Text

मुक्तामणि त्वं नयनं ममेति
राजेति जीवेति चिरं सुत त्वम् ।
इत्युक्तवत्यास्तव वाचि मातः
ददाम्यहं तण्डुलमेव शुष्कम् ॥१॥

अम्बेति तातेति शिवेति तस्मिन्
प्रसूतिकाले यदवोच उच्चैः ।
कृष्णेति गोविन्द हरे मुकुन्द
इति जनन्यै अहो रचितोऽयमञ्जलिः ॥२॥

आस्तां तावदियं प्रसूतिसमये दुर्वारशूलव्यथा
नैरुच्यं तनुशोषणं मलमयी शय्या च सांवत्सरी ।
एकस्यापि न गर्भभारभरणक्लेशस्य यस्याक्षमः
दातुं निष्कृतिमुन्नतोऽपि तनयस्तस्यै जनन्यै नमः ॥३॥

गुरुकुलमुपसृत्य स्वप्नकाले तु दृष्ट्वा
यतिसमुचितवेषं प्रारुदो मां त्वमुच्चैः ।
गुरुकुलमथ सर्वं प्रारुदत्ते समक्षं
सपदि चरणयोस्ते मातरस्तु प्रणामः ॥४॥

न दत्तं मातस्ते मरणसमये तोयमपि वा
स्वधा वा नो दत्ता मरणदिवसे श्राद्धविधिना ।
न जप्तो मातस्ते मरणसमये तारकमनु-
रकाले सम्प्राप्ते मयि कुरु दयां मातुरतुलाम् ॥५॥

Transliteration (Roman/IAST)

muktāmaṇi tvaṁ nayanaṁ mameti
rājeti jīveti ciraṁ suta tvam |
ity uktavatyās tava vāci mātaḥ
dadāmy ahaṁ taṇḍulam eva śuṣkam ||1||

āstāṁ tāvad iyaṁ prasūti-samaye durvāra-śūla-vyathā
nairucyaṁ tanu-śoṣaṇaṁ malamayī śayyā ca sāṁvatsarī |
ekasyāpi na garbha-bhāra-bharaṇa-kleśasya yasyākṣamaḥ
dātuṁ niṣkṛtim unnato'pi tanayas tasyai jananyai namaḥ ||3||

(The full Roman transliteration follows the Devanagari line for line; the famous third verse closes with tasyai jananyai namaḥ - "to that mother, my salutation.")

Meaning

Shankara recalls his mother's tender words - "you are my pearl, my very eye, live long, O my child, my king" - and laments that in return he could offer only dry grains of rice. The names she first taught him to lisp at birth, "Amba, Tata, Shiva," he now folds his hands and chants back for her as "Krishna, Govinda, Hari, Mukunda." He bows to the mother whose toil no son can repay: "Set aside the unbearable labour-pangs of childbirth, the loss of appetite, the wasting of the body, the year spent on a soiled bed - for even one of these toils of bearing the burden of the womb, no son, however exalted, can ever repay. To that mother, my salutation." He grieves that, having seen him in the ascetic's robe in a dream at the gurukula, she wept aloud - and that at her death he could give her neither a sip of water nor the proper last rites nor chant the liberating taraka-mantra in time; he begs her boundless motherly mercy.

About this Stotra

The Matru Panchakam ("Five Verses to the Mother") is a deeply personal composition by Adi Shankaracharya, the 8th-century founder of Advaita Vedanta. Unlike his philosophical and devotional hymns to deities, this is a son's tribute to his own mother, Aryamba, said to have been written at the time of her passing. Because Shankara had taken sannyasa, he was technically barred from performing worldly rites; the verses voice his anguish, his gratitude, and his love. It stands almost alone in his vast corpus as a hymn to a human being.

Significance & Spiritual Benefits

This stotra is revered as the supreme expression of matru-bhakti (reverence for the mother) and the debt (rina) every child owes a parent. Recited on a mother's death anniversary, on shraddha days, or simply to honour one's mother, it cultivates gratitude, humility and the dissolving of guilt. Many recite it to seek their late mother's blessings, to soften grief, and as a reminder that even the highest spiritual attainment does not erase the sacred bond of birth.

Astrological Relevance

In Jyotisha the Moon (Chandra) is the karaka of the mother, and the fourth house governs maternal happiness, home and emotional security. Recitation of the Matru Panchakam is offered as a sattvic remedy for an afflicted Moon or fourth house - conditions linked to emotional restlessness, estrangement from the mother, or unresolved grief. Honouring the mother is also a classical way to relieve Pitru-dosha and Chandra-related mental unrest. Mondays, governed by the Moon, are the natural day for this hymn.

How to Chant (Vidhi)

Sit in a clean place, ideally with a photograph or remembrance of one's mother. Light a lamp, settle the mind, and recite the five verses slowly with full feeling. It is especially fitting on the mother's birth or death anniversary, on Amavasya/shraddha days, and on Mondays. Conclude by mentally offering pranam and dedicating the merit to the mother's peace and well-being.