About Mahakatha Radio

Mahakatha Radio is a free mantra radio station. It plays sacred Hindu and Buddhist mantras from the Mahakatha library, all day and all night, for anyone who wants to listen. There are no ads, no subscriptions and nothing to sign up for, and everyone tuned in hears the same moment, like any radio.

Where it comes from

Mahakatha began with a prayer a grandfather taught: just the names of the gods. Years later, a two-track album for Lord Ganesha was recorded in college on a cheap microphone, printed on cassettes and given to temples. Then, during a pregnancy in the family, Preeti began singing the Nirvana Shatakam every day at the same time, and in 2014 one mantra video in her voice went up on YouTube. A year later it had found listeners all over the world.

That was the beginning of Mahakatha. Preeti, a Carnatic-trained singer, is the voice of every one of its 300-odd recordings. Today a small, self-funded team researches, records and shares mantras for everyday life, and Mahakatha Radio is how they keep them playing for anyone, at any hour, for free.

How the mantras are chosen

Every mantra has to mean something to us. We research the pronunciation and diction, then recompose the melody around one thing: healing. Preeti sings every one of them, and the whole team decides together what goes out.
Prashant Mahakatha, curator

The melodies are new, written to calm and to heal rather than to perform, which is why the station sounds the same at six in the morning as at eleven at night. Each mantra is shown with the deity and what it is traditionally chanted for.

What you hear

Mantras for Shiva, Om, Krishna, Devi, Ganesha, Lakshmi, Saraswati, Hanuman, the Buddha and many more, around the clock. On festivals there's a greeting on air, and during Navratri each goddess's mantra plays on her own day.

Prayer Requests

Listeners can offer a prayer for someone they love: for healing, in memory of someone, or for a special day. We shape the words gently into a short prayer and read it aloud on air during Prayer Requests, at 7 am and 7 pm India time, followed by a mantra chosen for them.

Hearing a prayer read aloud is like the golden era of radio, when you heard your name in a dedication. You feel heard. And everyone listening joins you in your cause.
Prashant Mahakatha, curator

Who it's for

People come to the radio at all hours: to study, to work, to pray, or because they can't sleep. Some come in hard times. If that's you, you're welcome here, and you don't need to know anything about mantras to listen.

You don't have to be religious. You don't have to chant, recite or remember anything. Just be in the moment, and let the sound reach you.
Prashant Mahakatha, curator

What you won't hear

No ads, no film bhajans, no vashikaran, and no guaranteed results. Just mantras, made with care.
Prashant Mahakatha, curator

Keeping it free

The radio is non-commercial and kept on air by listeners who offer prayers and support the station.

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