Rudram

Rudra means Shiva; He is the destroyer of all evil. Lord Shiva is Supreme Lord; He is the provide of worldly desires, inner peace and fulfillment. For devotees, Lord Shiva is the one who provides grace, wealth, power, health and happiness.

"a recitation of Sri Rudram, followed by 1 anuvAkam of Chamakam...thus the 11 anuvAkAs of Chamakam are chanted, each one preceded by one chant of entire Rudram...is called EkA dasa Rudram". This also constitutes one unit of the Rudra Homam. Eleven Ekadasa Rudram recitations make one Laghu Rudram. And Elevan Laghu Rudra Chantings make one Maharudram.

1. What is Rudram ?

The Sri Rudram occurs in Krishna Yajur Veda in the Taithireeya Samhita in the fourth and seventh chapters. This prayer to Rudra has two parts-the Namakam (verses ending with Nama) and the Chamakam (Verses ending with Cha May) each with eleven sections. It is also known as Satha Rudreeyam or Rudra Prasnam. While Namakam is a prayer to Rudra to forget about his avenging fierce, fearful and horrendous form and turn himself into a peaceful form and do good to us, Chamakam on the other hand lists out the blessings to be got from a prayer to Rudra and prays Him to regulate and bless our life for a moment forgetting his anger. This also has eleven parts.