The mantra that started Mahakatha
Before the radio, before 300 recordings, there was one mantra sung every day at the same time. The story of the Nirvana Shatakam and how Mahakatha began.
Every mantra on Mahakatha Radio has a story, but one of them came first. Before there was a radio station, a YouTube channel or a team, there was a family, a pregnancy, and a mantra sung every day at the same time. That mantra was the Nirvana Shatakam, and this is how it started everything.
A prayer of names
The story really begins further back, with a grandfather and a few words.
My grandfather taught me a short prayer, just the names of the deities. I still say it almost every other day.
Prashant Mahakatha, curator
There was nothing elaborate about it. No ritual, no book, just names said with love, and the feeling that saying them mattered. Many of us carry something like this: a line a grandparent said at the door, a verse a mother hummed while cooking. It's often the first mantra we ever learn, even if we don't call it that.
Cassettes for the temples
Years later, in college, came the first attempt at making devotional music. It was a two-track album for Lord Ganesha, recorded on a cheap microphone. The cassettes were printed and given to temples, simply as an offering.
Looking back, that small album held the seed of everything since: mantras made with care, and given freely.
Preeti and the Nirvana Shatakam
Then, during a pregnancy in the family, Preeti began singing the Nirvana Shatakam every day, at the same time. Preeti is a Carnatic-trained singer, and the Nirvana Shatakam is a hymn attributed to Adi Shankaracharya: six short verses, each ending with the same line.
चिदानन्द रूपः शिवोऽहं शिवोऽहम् Chidananda rupah Shivo'ham Shivo'ham
"I am the form of consciousness and bliss, I am Shiva." Each verse sets aside what we are not (not the mind, not the senses, not the elements) until only that quiet line is left. It is traditionally chanted for steadiness and inner peace. You can hear it in full, with every verse and its meaning, on Mahakatha.
As the weeks went by, something small and lovely happened. At the usual time, when Preeti began to sing, the baby would kick. Whether it was the melody, the rhythm of the day, or simply a mother's calm, nobody can say. But the family noticed, and it stayed with them.
One video, in 2014
In 2014, one mantra video in Preeti's voice went up on YouTube. A year later, it had found listeners all over the world.
We started Mahakatha with the Nirvana Shatakam. It was the first mantra we recorded, and I still go back to it.
Prashant Mahakatha, curator
That was the beginning of Mahakatha. Today Preeti is the voice of every one of its 300-odd recordings, and a small, self-funded team researches, records and shares mantras for everyday life. Mahakatha Radio is how we keep them playing, for anyone, at any hour, for free. You can read more of the story on our About page.
How mantras are chosen today
So much has changed since that first recording, but the way we choose a mantra hasn't, really.
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
That's why the radio sounds the way it does. The melodies are new, written to calm rather than to perform, which is why the station feels the same at six in the morning as at eleven at night. There are Shiva mantras like the Nirvana Shatakam, and Om, Krishna, Devi, Ganesha, Lakshmi, Saraswati, Hanuman, the Buddha and many more. Read more about what plays on our mantra radio page.
If you're wondering where to start, our list of the most powerful mantras gathers some of the best-loved ones, with their meaning and how to chant them. The Nirvana Shatakam is on it, of course.
Something to try
The Nirvana Shatakam isn't a mantra that asks for anything. It doesn't promise wealth or success. It simply asks you to put down, for a few minutes, all the things you think you are, and rest in what's left. If you've had a heavy week, that can be a great relief.
Try listening to it once, all the way through, without doing anything else. Don't worry about the words. Just let the refrain come round each time, like a wave.
Listen with us
Mahakatha Radio plays Shiva mantras like the Nirvana Shatakam, day and night, free and without ads. Listen live, and you might hear the mantra that started it all. And if there's someone you're holding in your thoughts, you can offer a prayer for them, read aloud on air at 7 am or 7 pm India time.