Venkatesha Stotram

वेङ्कटेश स्तोत्रम्

The Sri Venkatesha Stotram — 'Kamalakucha choochuka kunkumato…' — is the second movement of the four-part dawn liturgy of Tirumala: Suprabhatam, Stotram, Prapatti, Mangalasasanam, attributed to Prativadi Bhayankaram Annangaracharya (15th c.). It is offered at the Suprabhata Seva, the first seva of the temple's day, to wake Sri Venkateswara — Srinivasa, Balaji — the form of Vishnu who stands upon the Tirumala hill. These are stotras, not a single codified raga; the melodic material varies by singer, so no thaat, aaroha or vadi is claimed here, and no ritu either, since the hymn belongs to every dawn rather than to a season. Of the weekdays, Saturday is Venkateswara's own across the whole of India and carries full weight; Thursday is Guruvara, Vishnu's weekly day, but it belongs equally to every Vaishnava hymn and so is pinned at half. The nakshatra is Shravana alone, at full weight: Shravana's presiding devata is Vishnu himself, and Tirumala tradition holds it as Venkateswara's janma nakshatra, keying the monthly abhishekam to it. No second nakshatra has comparable footing — Uttara Ashadha belongs to the Vishvedevas, Punarvasu to Aditi, Rohini to Prajapati. None of them is Vishnu's, and none is claimed here.