The Raghuvira Gadyam (Sanskrit: रघुवीरगद्यम्, romanized: Raghuvīragadyam), also rendered the Mahavira Vaibhavam, is a Sanskrithymn written by the Hindu philosopher Vedanta Desika.[1] Comprising 96 verses, the Raghuvira Gadyam extols Rama, an avatar of the deity Vishnu. The hymn describes various episodes of the epic Ramayana, composed in the kathora-sukumara poetic style.[2]
Etymology
Raghuvira is an epithet of Rama,[3] literally meaning, "hero of the Raghu clan", and a gadyam is a form of prose used in Sanskrit literature.[4]
victory to you, victory to you, O great hero, the foremost of the valiant ones, whose unmatched valour was praised by the devas during their conflict with the asuras, who took the form of the son of Dasharatha towards the request of the devas, who were tormented by the ten-headed Ravana who is the sun of the lotus of the Solar dynasty, who removed the debt of Dasharatha, who helped Indra in his war, who was born as the prince of Kosala's daughter and hid the reason for his birth, who protected the ritual sacrifice of Vishvamitra like it were child's play, who is saluted by an assembly of divine arrows waiting for your instructions in battle, who shines with fearsome shoulders that lead to the destruction of the enemies of those who salute you, who used tiny arrows to slay Tataka and humiliate her sons, preventing them from further torment
