The Meaning of Ayu Drona Sute Sewa's Musings

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the meaning of Ayu

Drona Sute
Posted on Tuesday, October 04, 2011by curly locks with 15
comments
# $ #( )+ / 0#1 6,
1 of 20 12/23/16, 11:17 AM
89 ;< >1 B + CDB,

#9 #( I JK MN #(
>OB >CI > >Q1 R
Every year we hear the long Sanskrit shloka that

begins Ayo Drona Sute in Dashain, we know that these
lines are blessings, but what do they actually mean? This
shloka actually lists out the good qualities of characters
from Hindu myths, and blesses the receiver with similar
qualities. Many of the stories are familiar, but some are
pretty obscure bits of mythology. For example, most
people are familiar with the first bit which goes Aayu
Drona Sute, Shriyam Dasharathe, Shatrukhsyayam
Raghave. This line starts with Ashwatthama, the son of
Drona. He had once vengefully unleashed a weapon on
the womb of Abhimanyus wife Uttara, killing her
unborn child. For this sin of feticide, Lord Krishna
cursed him to live as an insect for 3 lakh years. Our
elders would like us to live for 3 lakh years through a
benign blessing and without the disadvantage of this
curse. The next bit wishes that the receiver has as much
wealth (Shree) as king Dasharath, and the last part is
regarding Ram. The receiver is hoped to destroy all his
enemies (shatru kshayam) like Raghav (another name
for Ram) of yore did.
The second line runs thus:Aishyarwam

Nahushe, gatishcha Pawane, Manam cha Duryodhane.
It begins with the obscure story of Nahush. Nahush was
an ancient king who was made the king of heaven
during Indras absence. As a result, he lived an
extremely luxurious life. But there is also a dark spin to
his luxury. Nahush became so arrogant that he dared to
desire Sachi, the wife of Indra, and decided to ride on a
palanquin carried by rishis. No other mortal would even
dare to think of such blasphemies, but Nahush wanted
to prove that that he was the only one who could afford
2 of 20 12/23/16, 11:17 AM
such luxuries. Not satisfied with that, Nahush kicked

rishi Agastya, who in turn cursed him, causing him to
fall from heaven and live on earth as a serpent for many
years.
Moving on, the next part wishes that the receiver

has the speed (gati) of air (pawan). Spending my third
Dashain away from my family, I certainly could do with
that kind of speed! I could go home with the west winds
and come back with the east, and not worry about the
doldrums in between! The last bit of this line mentions
the pride (maan) of Duryodhan. Usually portrayed as the
evil arch villain of Mahabharata, here Duryodhan is
heaped with praises. Indeed, abhimaan or pride is the
hallmark of this ill fated mans life. He gave his best to
the Mahabharata war, even though he knew there was
no way he could win, simply because he had too much
pride to surrender to his arch enemies. Despite having
little support from his elders and being put down all his
life, he stayed true to his heart. If he had won the war,
the Mahabharata might now be a paean to his
achievements, but since he did not, only this little shloka
bears testament to his iron will.
The third line begins by extolling the generosity

of Karna. Daanam Surya Sute, Balam haladhare,
Stayam cha Kuntisute. This offspring of Surya was so
famous for openhandedness that Lord Indra was able to
wrangle his kawach and kundal that he was born with.
Karna had to cut them out from his body to fulfill
Indras request. No contentions here, Karna is indeed an
admirable character and by far the favorite
Mahabharata character of most people I know. The next
part is regarding the strength (balam) of Balaram, who is
famous for carrying a plough (Haladhar). He was
renowned for his wrestling skills, which require a lot of
3 of 20 12/23/16, 11:17 AM
physical strength. In fact, he was also the wrestling

teacher of Bhim and Duryodhan, the best wrestlers of
the era. The last bit praises the truth (satya) of
Yudhishthir (Kunti-sute). Known for his virtuous ways,
Yudhishthir was supposed to have spoken only one
falsehood in his entire life.
The last line begins with a praise of Bidur for his

knowledge. Bigyanam Bidure, Bhawanti Bhawatam,
Keertishcha Narayane.Bigyan would mean science, but
nowhere do we find Bidur being an engineer, or
architect, or being even vaguely scientific in any other
way. However, he was certainly well versed in politics,
ethics, governance, astrology, and even Mlechha
(foreign) languages. Now these are knowledges that I
would die for, so I would gladly accept this gyan in lieu
of science. The next part is the blessing part, where the
speaker says may these things happen! The last bit
talks about the fame (Keerti) of Lord Narayan. And truly,
Narayan is probably the most famous of gods. Besides
being part of the mighty trinity, two of his avatars Rama
and Krishna are among the most famous Hindu gods. So
our elders would not only want us to have all the above
mentioned heavenly qualities, but also be world famous
celebrities.
It is notable that all characters are from either

Mahabharat or Ramayan, and there are no outside
characters like Shiva, Ganesh, etc. It is also notable that
apart from neutral qualities like speed, generosity, truth,
knowledge and fame, the rest of the qualities are
distinctly warlike. The strength of Balram, the foe
destroying capacities of Ram, and the pride of
Duryodhan fall into this category. As such, according to
ancient Hindu classification, this shloka seems to be for
Kshatriyas. The mention of luxurious life further
4 of 20 12/23/16, 11:17 AM
confirms this, as no other caste is encouraged to live

luxuriously. Conversely, there are no blessings about
non Kshatriya values like peace, humility, or labor.
Some of the characters mentioned seem to be ill

chosen: Ashwatthama, for example, is the only one of
the Chiranjeevis to be cursed into long life, and his
inclusion seems surprising beside the glittering resumes
of other seven chiranjeevis who lived as long as him.
Duryodhan too is a highly dubious choice as his
admirable pride turned out to be very destructive for
himself and his entire clan. Nahush met his downfall in
the very luxury that this shloka promotes. In Hindu
philosophy, Satya does not mean just the spoken truth,
but also a virtuous lifestyle. Being a woman, I find it
surprising that a man who staked his wife on dice is held
up as a model of truth. On the subject of women, it is
notable that while all these personalities are
extraordinary and anyone would be lucky to have their
qualities, all of them are men. Sure, it is desirable for
women as well to live long, be swift and live a life of
luxury. But all the same, many qualities like physical
strength and foe-destruction are generally not
applicable to women. It would have been nice if some of
the names had been of women. As intelligent as
Sarasvati maybe? Or as prosperous as Lakshmi, who is a
much better symbol of wealth than the scandalous
Nahush?
Though the meaning behind this shloka is now

clear, many other questions remain. Who wrote this
shloka? In which epic or manual can it be found? Since
when has it been used in Nepal? Since when has it been
associated with Dashain? I could find no answers to
these questions, and I am looking forward to learning
those answers too.
5 of 20 12/23/16, 11:17 AM
this one was published in kathhmandu post,

yupee http://www.ekantipur.com/2011/10/04/oped
/not-a-simple-blessing/341801.html
Recommend this on Google
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15 comments:
Shyam said...
Wow. So informative. Thank you for sharing.
Two things stood out to me. One, I am not a bit
surprised that the sloka only mentions masculine
qualities etc, or less surprised than when I see this
same blessing being given by the most educated
people, including those who know what it means,
WITHOUT bothering to think about its inherent
sexism. (You've probably seen the news at this
time of one of the candidates for US Presidential
primaries is being trashed for one racially
inappropriate sign at his leased hunting
camp--and here we are, never ever caring what
our most important sociocultural practices mean
or do to women!)
The second, less sensitive, thing is the hyperbole in
the sloka. I think that the analogies are
intentionally exaggerated, because that's
psychologically what people do when they are
wishing someone well. I like that. I would wish,
6 of 20 12/23/16, 11:17 AM
however, that the sloka was translated into local

languages. But this is another bahunbadi
dynamism whereby scriptural texts are
perpetuated in the foreign language. (You know
the slack that Bhanubhakta Acharya took when he
translated the Ramayana. That's what's continuing
to work in the case of the average people. It took a
literary hero to translate a text, but the same is not
working in the case of all the chanting and
mantras and rituals and blessings with the general
society.)
All in all, I like this sloka. This is one little social
paradox--like the national anthems, which I once
studied and almost got sick to see the amount of
violence, jingoism, and arrogance that most of
them touted--but it is also a nice little thing if you
forget and forgive the elements that time made
outdated. It is a kind of window into our past, and I
honestly don't know how we can adapt it to better
fit our lives.
October 4, 2011 at 10:04 PM

sewa said...
helo shyam, thank you for taking the trouble to
post on both places.
i think you have hit the nail on the head with your
comment. the reason we don't want to change is,
most often, because we like it how it is. Things are
so comfortable, and old traditions are so homely,
that we will continue them no matter whether
they make sense or not. Which is not to say that
this shloka does not make sense, I actually quite
like it myself. I was just pointing out what I saw,
and I have not the faintest idea to change or
modify it. Maybe translating it in Nepali would
help, like you said. But in the meantime, we can
7 of 20 12/23/16, 11:17 AM
just enjoy the exaggerated blessings, which have a

lot of poetic (and sentimental) merit.

Anonymous said...
I don't know if you two realize but this sloka is
ment only for men, hence the masculine qualities.
The female get a different blessing, "jayanti
mangala Kali."
October 7, 2011 at 10:41 AM

sewa said...
jayanti mangala kali is not a blessing, its only a
stuti / bandana / prayer to different goddesses. It
does not wish anything upon the receiver

Subodh said...
This is fascinating indeed! Keep it up!

Kulachandra Maudgalya said...
Hi there,
Please allow me to write something.
1. The authoress (sic) found a good feminist angle.
:) Keep it up. (No sarcasm or pun intended.)
What one could believe is if these Shlokas were
penned by a poetess (sic) of modern times, or say
one in past with feminist nous, she might think
about making them gender-balanced, and fit for
both the sexes as benedictive verses. But reality is
that the literati intelligentsia, by default was
male-dominant even till not-distant past.
Maitreyi, the scholarly wife of philosopher
Yajnavalkya, and Gargi, Rishi Vachaknu's poetess
and philosopher daughter who dared to challenge
8 of 20 12/23/16, 11:17 AM
Yajnavalkya at King Janaka's philosophic congress,

are the only names of Vedic era that I can recall
now.
Here, I intentionally related these women with
their husband and father, respectively. Because, I
believe, they could rise to the prominence and
were documented only because of their access to
the scholarly debates or the kings' courts by virtue
of their relation with the male scholars.
Weren't there other learned or wise women
contemporary to them? Perhaps there were. But
they probably did not have access to the elites to
help them project to eminence. The ones known
today are family members of well-known
eggheads. That's what we call privilege and luck!
2. Though the authoress points out that the

characters referred in the Shlokaswere humans
(She acknowledges that they are from the
Ramayana and the Mahabharata), she suggests
that the verses would have taken up Goddess
Saraswati too. For gender-balance?
When she argues some of the names are debatable,
I second her. But if she has wanted Saraswati to be
in then I find this bit odd. Divinity and mortality
cannot comply.
3. I think "Aayu DronaSute... " is designed for men

only. If my family tradition is something to go by,
there are separate verses used for women.
Different blessings for married and unmarried
women! With very poor memory of mine, I recall
that "Lakshmiste Pankajaakshi..." and "Jayanti
Mangalaa Kaali..." are also used.
My understanding is that the commoners who do
not understand Sanskrit but take everything
9 of 20 12/23/16, 11:17 AM
composed in the language for sacred, however, use

the verses indiscriminately.
I remember some seniors reciting Bhartrihari's
erotic verses, mistaking them for prayers!
Though hackneyed, for many "Aayu DronaSute...."
has been de rigueur for Dashain Teeka! Needless
to say, most of them jumble words and make the
meaning ridiculous. (One of my aunts has blessed
me this year to get rid of my enemies like the
danavas did. (She wants me to be brutal, eh?)
I wonder why everyman (and everywoman) doesn't
bless their juniors using the everyday language
they use if they are not comfortable with Sanskrit.
4. Last but not least, I am unhappy with both the
authoress and copyeditor for misspelling the
Sanskrit words and names or not bothering to edit.
For Nepali speakers, Ram, Nahush, Raghav,
Duryodhan or Bidur sounds okay. But the words
are not "just another" local names. Here the story
is not about Ram Bahadur, Nahush Prasad,
Duryodhan Raj or Bidur Mani. And, (ba)and (va
or wa), though look similar in letters, are different
letters, and are pronounced differently.
The standard practice is to write Rama, Nahusha,
Raghava, Duryodhana and Vidura.
I could not understand how come in the very
article Rama has been correctly written in a
paragraph. Probably, people were too tired to
notice it!
May all beings be happy!

Cheers

sewa said...
Dear Kulchandra,
10 of 20 12/23/16, 11:17 AM
first of all let me start off by saying that I really

appreciate your politely worded and intelligent
comment. I endured a lot of flak for this article
and your comment made me feel that its ok.
1. Thank you for appreciating the feminist angle,

You are the only person to say so. About the
existence of learned women in olden days, all I can
say is that their numbers are few not because they
had no capacities, but because they had no
opportunities, Until the recent past we know that
women were banned from studying. Also, just like
the scholarly women you mentioned, many men
are also famous just because they are family
members of well known eggheads. Lol, we can find
many stories of sons of rishis being known just by
their family.
2. Thanks for pointing out the divinity/morality

mistake, You are right, I should have said Gargi.
3. Yes, separate verses are used for women, But

Jayanti Mangala Kali is not a blessing. It simply
takes the names of devis, it is a prarthana to them,
it does not bless the receiver to have similar
qualities. Often, Ayu Drona Sute is used for both
sexes, and it is normal in Hindu, and in fact many
world traditions, to design something solely for
women and force it willy nilly on women. I dont
know if Ayu Drona Sute is of the same mold, or if
there are just no blessings for women because they
are not considered blessing worthy. I am yet to
hear Lakshmishte Pankajakshee, I would love to
hear it before making further comments.
4. I will interject an extra point to say that I like
11 of 20 12/23/16, 11:17 AM
this verse, it is very poetic and romantic, and I am

not at all averse to using it, I am sorry if my article
gave the impression that I want it to change.
Adding blessings in Nepali is a good idea.
5. Last but not the least, the extra a at the end of

names is very annoying. I dont think the rules of
Sanskrit grammar carry over in English. In
Sanskrit, we cannot write just because we
pronounce it instead we msut write the full
. Not so in English. In fatc, the extra a in the
end is very confusing. As was a child, when I saw
Rams name spelled Rama, I pronounced it for
a long time. And now that my roomie is taking a
religion class, she tells me that her teachers and
classmates always pronounce the extra a,
something like or something which is silly. I
think we wanna avoid that sort of confusion.
However, I should have watched it with Vidur, I
am sorry, I dont know how I allowed myself to
make that mistake.
6. In the end, I would like to thank you again for

your cheerful comment, I am glad I am not the
only mythology obsessed freak.

Anonymous said...
Fabulous, what a web site it is! This webpage
presents helpful data to us, keep it up.
March 19, 2012 at 12:14 AM

Anonymous said...
I think the line " daanawaa surya sute " has to be
replaced with saurya shanta nabe ... correct me if I
am wrong sewa
12 of 20 12/23/16, 11:17 AM
November 1, 2012 at 10:23 AM

curly locks said...
yes, that is one variation that I have heard of :)
November 2, 2012 at 1:24 AM

Anonymous said...
Dear Sewa,
I just wanted to share two thoughts:
1. I think gender-bias should not be an issue.

Wouldn't any mother wish all this and more for
her children? I marvel at the joy that a mother
would feel. Gender is not an issue.
2. The incantation, I believe, is meant for us

earthly beings. All the "role models" are earthly
beings, albeit mythical. Of course there is the
"kirti" of Narayana at the end. But my
understanding is that the last bit is meant to
glorify Narayana. In other words, if I were
chanting this incantation for someone, I would be
saying, "I wish all the highest mortal qualities for
you, but ultimately the glory belongs to Narayana".
With best regards,

Akash

curly locks said...
Dear Akash,
Thank you for taking the time to comment.
Let me start with the good vibes, I really like your
alternate interpretation of the last phrase, really
adds to my understanding of the Shloka, thanks
for the input.
13 of 20 12/23/16, 11:17 AM
But I do think gender is important, it is good to

wish your children have all these good qualities,
but when you ignore the qualities that women
have, and when the pattern is repeated
everywhere, it ultimately makes people believe
women do not have any good qualities.
October 14, 2013 at 12:45 AM

Anonymous said...
Dear Curly locks,
There is bias when two are equal and yet, one is

favored. Mother and son, brother and sister,
husband and wife, daughter and father.. I just do
not see a bias caused by gender. There may be bias
of temperament, of intelligence, of aptitude.. but I
see no bias due to gender which is inherent in our
genes. If you are talking about equality of rights, of
speech, of decision making, etc., I concur.. but then
where does gender come in?
As much as anyone tries, nobody can denigrate the

value of neither man nor woman. And yet, as
much as anyone tries, nobody can equate an apple
and an orange. Both are beautiful, both are
delicious. What good can come of trying to prove
one is better, or for that matter, that they are the
same? In this context, gender is not an issue.
As Dale Carnegie put it, I may be wrong. I

frequently am.
With best regards,

Akash.
14 of 20 12/23/16, 11:17 AM
curly locks said...

Dear Akash,
You are right that the bias is not in our genes. Men
and women are endowed with different qualities,
both are equally good in their own ways. But
society creates bias by valuing one more than the
other, and by humiliating one of them constantly.
The shloka is part of the same social values.

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the meaning of Ayu Drona Sute ~ Sewa's Musings http://sewasmusings.blogspot.com/2011/10/meaning-of-ayu-dro...

the meaning of Ayu

89 ;< >1 B + CDB,

Every year we hear the long Sanskrit shloka that

The second line runs thus:Aishyarwam

such luxuries. Not satisfied with that, Nahush kicked

Moving on, the next part wishes that the receiver

The third line begins by extolling the generosity

physical strength. In fact, he was also the wrestling

The last line begins with a praise of Bidur for his

It is notable that all characters are from either

confirms this, as no other caste is encouraged to live

Some of the characters mentioned seem to be ill

Though the meaning behind this shloka is now

this one was published in kathhmandu post,

Recommend this on Google

funny (0) interesting (0) like (0)

Posted in gender, myths, religion, the meaning of Ayu Drona Sute

Newer Post Home Older Post

however, that the sloka was translated into local

October 4, 2011 at 10:04 PM

just enjoy the exaggerated blessings, which have a

October 5, 2011 at 7:45 PM

October 7, 2011 at 10:41 AM

October 7, 2011 at 10:42 AM

October 9, 2011 at 11:26 AM

Yajnavalkya at King Janaka's philosophic congress,

2. Though the authoress points out that the

3. I think "Aayu DronaSute... " is designed for men

composed in the language for sacred, however, use

May all beings be happy!

October 15, 2011 at 9:29 AM

first of all let me start off by saying that I really

1. Thank you for appreciating the feminist angle,

2. Thanks for pointing out the divinity/morality

3. Yes, separate verses are used for women, But

4. I will interject an extra point to say that I like

this verse, it is very poetic and romantic, and I am

5. Last but not the least, the extra a at the end of

6. In the end, I would like to thank you again for

October 15, 2011 at 9:11 PM

March 19, 2012 at 12:14 AM

November 1, 2012 at 10:23 AM

November 2, 2012 at 1:24 AM

I just wanted to share two thoughts:

1. I think gender-bias should not be an issue.

2. The incantation, I believe, is meant for us

With best regards,

October 13, 2013 at 9:23 PM

But I do think gender is important, it is good to

October 14, 2013 at 12:45 AM

There is bias when two are equal and yet, one is

As much as anyone tries, nobody can denigrate the

As Dale Carnegie put it, I may be wrong. I

With best regards,

October 15, 2013 at 1:05 AM

curly locks said...

October 15, 2013 at 1:45 AM

November 27, 2014 at 4:51 PM

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