Stotra

"[1][2] It is a literary genre of Indian religious texts designed to be melodically sung, in contrast to a shastra which is composed to be recited.

Among the early texts with Stotras are by Kuresha,[clarification needed] which combine Ramanuja's Vedantic ideas on qualified monism about Atman and Brahman (ultimate, unchanging reality), with temple practices.

[3] Stotra comes from the Sanskrit root √stu- which means "to praise, eulogize or laud" combined with the ṣṭran suffix.

[4] The following is a Peterson translation of a Stotra by the Tamil poet Appar for Ardhanarishvara, the Hindu concept of a god who incorporates both the masculine and the feminine as inseparable halves.

[5] An earring of bright new gold one ear, a coiled conch shell sways on the other, On one side he chants the Vedic melodies, on the other, he gently smiles, Matted hair adorned with sweet konrai blossoms on one half of his head, and a woman's curls on the other, he comes.