Mantras & blessings most used in Nepal

Most of Hindu ritual hymns are in Sanskrit language. Some of the holy books can be found in
Nepali language translated from Sanskrit. But still mantras in Nepali language are rarely found.
These are the blessings and mantras most used in Nepal in different rituals.
Dashain Blessing to Male
Dashain Blessing to Female
Gayatri Mantra
Bhagwati Stotra

Dashain blessing to Male

(1)
,
, , (2)
, (3)
(4)

Ayu Drona sute, Sriyem Dasarathae, Satru Chheyam Raghabe

Aishoryei Nahushe Gatischa pawane Manancha Duryodhane
Sourya Shanta nabe, Balam Haldhare, Satyanta Kunti Sute
Bigyani Bidure Bhawati Bhabatam, Kritischha Narayane

(1) May you live long like the son of Dronacharya (i.e. Aswasthama)
May your prestige prosper like King Dasaratha
May you become able to wipe out your enemies like Lord Ram

(2) May your material well being be like King Nahush

May your speed equate with the Pawan (Air)
May people respect you like prince Duryodhan

(3) May you become a powerful worrier like son of Santanu

May you become stronger like Balaram (elder brother of Lord Krishna)
May you become truthful like son of Kunti (i.e. Youdhisthir)

(4) May you become as wise as the Bidhur

May your glory flourish like that of Lord Vishnu

Dashain blessing to Female

, -
,
--------
Jayanti Mangala Kaali, Bhadra Kali Kapalini
Durga Kshama Shivaa Dhaatri, Swaha Swadha namostute
--------
She Who Conquers Over All, All-Auspicious, the remover of Darkness,
the Excellent One Beyond Time, the bearer of the Skulls of Impure thought
the reliever of difficulties, loving, forgiveness, supporter of the Universe,
take the oblations of the devotee who is one with you, take the oblations of ancestral praise, We
bow to you.
************

,
--------
Sarv Mangala Mangalye, Shive Sarvarth Sadhike
Sharanye Trayambke Gouri, Narayani Namostute
--------
The one who is the auspiciousness of all that is auspicious
Parvati, who is the means of accomplishing all desires
who is the refuge of all, who has three eyes, who is shining
We bow to you Godess Narayani

***************




--------
Kaayena Waacaa Manasendriyairvaa
Buddhy-Aatmanaa Waa Prakrte Swabhaawaat
Karomi Yad-Yat-Sakalam Parasmai
Narayanayeti Samarpayaami
--------
Whatever I do with the body, speech, mind or the sense organs,
Or with my Intellect, or by m existing innate tendencies,
I do them all work without ownership,
And I surrender them to the Lord Vishnu

Gayatri Mantra
:| | |:

Meaning
Let us meditate on that excellent glory of the divine Light (Sun). May he inspire our thoughts,
stimulate our understandings. Rig Veda 3.62.10

Bhagwati Strotra ( ) - Strotram

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***
1.1: Victory to You, O Divine Goddess, My Salutations to You Who are the Giver of Boons,
1.2: Victory to You O Devi, Who are the Destroyer of Sins and Bestower of Many Fruits,
1.3: Victory to You O Devi, Who Wear the Heads of Sinful Demons Shumbha and Nishumbha
(after slaying them),
1.4: I Bow to You O Devi, You Indeed are the Remover of Pains of Human Beings.
---
2.1: Victory to You O Devi, Who Wear the Sun and the Moon as Her Eyes,
2.2: Victory to You O Devi, Whose Beautiful Face is Adorned by the Glow of Fire,
2.3: Victory to You O Devi, Who as the Supreme Being Fused Her Body with that of Bhairava
(as Ardhanarishwara),
2.4: Victory to You O Devi, Who Dried up the Strength of Demon Andhaka (for his wickedness).
---
3.1: Victory to You O Devi, Who Crushed the Demon Mahishasura with Trident in Hand,
3.2: Victory to You O Devi, Who Destroy the Sins in All the Worlds,
3.3: Victory to You O Devi, to Whom Pitamaha Brahma and Sri Vishnu Bow Down.
3.4: Victory to You O Devi, to Whom Sun and the Other Devas Bow Down.
---
4.1: Victory to You O Devi, Who is Praised by Lord Shanmukha (the Six-Faced Kartikeya)
Adorned with various Weapons,
4.2: Victory to You O Devi, Who is Praised by Lord Shiva seeing You Flowing towards the
Ocean as river Ganga (for the welfare of mankind),
4.3: Victory to You O Devi, Who Destroys All Sorrows and Poverty,
4.4: Victory to You O Devi, Who Augments our Fortune by providing Sons and Wives.
---
5.1: Victory to You O Devi, Who Wear All the Bodies (remaining as the underlying Pure
Consciousness),
5.2: Victory to You O Devi, Who Bestows the Vision of Spiritual Sky (during meditation), thus
Destroying the Root of our Sorrow (of spiritual ignorance),
5.3: Victory to You O Devi, Who Destroy the Diseases (obstructing our spiritual progress) and
finally Grants Liberation (from the delusion of samsara),
5.4: Victory to You O Devi, Who thus Grants our Wishes and takes us towards the Most
Excellent Siddhi (of spiritual fulfilment).
---
6.1: This Stotram (Hymn) is Composed by Sage Vyasa,
6.2: Whoever Recites this Stotram Regularly after becoming Bodily and Mentally Clean ,...
6.3: ...in his Home or Anywhere with Pure Devotion to the Goddess,
6.4: Will Please the Bhagavati Devi Always.

,
,

Every year we hear the long Sanskrit shloka that begins Ayo
Drona Sute in Dashain, we know that these lines are blessings, but what
do they actually mean? This shloka actually lists out the good qualities
of characters from Hindu myths, and blesses the receiver with similar
qualities. Many of the stories are familiar, but some are pretty obscure
bits of mythology. For example, most people are familiar with the first
bit which goes Aayu Drona Sute, Shriyam Dasharathe,
Shatrukhsyayam Raghave. This line starts with Ashwatthama, the son
of Drona. He had once vengefully unleashed a weapon on the womb of
Abhimanyus wife Uttara, killing her unborn child. For this sin of
feticide, Lord Krishna cursed him to live as an insect for 3 lakh years.
Our elders would like us to live for 3 lakh years through a benign
blessing and without the disadvantage of this curse. The next bit wishes
that the receiver has as much wealth (Shree) as king Dasharath, and the
last part is regarding Ram. The receiver is hoped to destroy all his
enemies (shatru kshayam) like Raghav (another name for Ram) of yore
did.

The second line runs thus:Aishyarwam Nahushe, gatishcha

Pawane, Manam cha Duryodhane. It begins with the obscure story of
Nahush. Nahush was an ancient king who was made the king of heaven
during Indras absence. As a result, he lived an extremely luxurious life.
But there is also a dark spin to his luxury. Nahush became so arrogant
that he dared to desire Sachi, the wife of Indra, and decided to ride on a
palanquin carried by rishis. No other mortal would even dare to think of
such blasphemies, but Nahush wanted to prove that that he was the only
one who could afford such luxuries. Not satisfied with that, Nahush
kicked rishi Agastya, who in turn cursed him, causing him to fall from
heaven and live on earth as a serpent for many years.

Moving on, the next part wishes that the receiver has the speed
(gati) of air (pawan). Spending my third Dashain away from my family,
I certainly could do with that kind of speed! I could go home with the
west winds and come back with the east, and not worry about the
doldrums in between! The last bit of this line mentions the pride (maan)
of Duryodhan. Usually portrayed as the evil arch villain of Mahabharata,
here Duryodhan is heaped with praises. Indeed, abhimaan or pride is the
hallmark of this ill fated mans life. He gave his best to the Mahabharata
war, even though he knew there was no way he could win, simply
because he had too much pride to surrender to his arch enemies. Despite
having little support from his elders and being put down all his life, he
stayed true to his heart. If he had won the war, the Mahabharata might
now be a paean to his achievements, but since he did not, only this little
shloka bears testament to his iron will.

The third line begins by extolling the generosity of Karna.

Daanam Surya Sute, Balam haladhare, Stayam cha Kuntisute. This
offspring of Surya was so famous for openhandedness that Lord Indra
was able to wrangle his kawach and kundal that he was born with. Karna
had to cut them out from his body to fulfill Indras request. No
contentions here, Karna is indeed an admirable character and by far the
favorite Mahabharata character of most people I know. The next part is
regarding the strength (balam) of Balaram, who is famous for carrying a
plough (Haladhar). He was renowned for his wrestling skills, which
require a lot of physical strength. In fact, he was also the wrestling
teacher of Bhim and Duryodhan, the best wrestlers of the era. The last
bit praises the truth (satya) of Yudhishthir (Kunti-sute). Known for his
virtuous ways, Yudhishthir was supposed to have spoken only one
falsehood in his entire life.

The last line begins with a praise of Bidur for his knowledge.
Bigyanam Bidure, Bhawanti Bhawatam, Keertishcha
Narayane.Bigyan would mean science, but nowhere do we find Bidur
being an engineer, or architect, or being even vaguely scientific in any
other way. However, he was certainly well versed in politics, ethics,
governance, astrology, and even Mlechha (foreign) languages. Now
these are knowledges that I would die for, so I would gladly accept this
gyan in lieu of science. The next part is the blessing part, where the
speaker says may these things happen! The last bit talks about the
fame (Keerti) of Lord Narayan. And truly, Narayan is probably the most
famous of gods. Besides being part of the mighty trinity, two of his
avatars Rama and Krishna are among the most famous Hindu gods. So
our elders would not only want us to have all the above mentioned
heavenly qualities, but also be world famous celebrities.

It is notable that all characters are from either Mahabharat or

Ramayan, and there are no outside characters like Shiva, Ganesh, etc. It
is also notable that apart from neutral qualities like speed, generosity,
truth, knowledge and fame, the rest of the qualities are distinctly
warlike. The strength of Balram, the foe destroying capacities of Ram,
and the pride of Duryodhan fall into this category. As such, according to
ancient Hindu classification, this shloka seems to be for Kshatriyas. The
mention of luxurious life further confirms this, as no other caste is
encouraged to live luxuriously. Conversely, there are no blessings about
non Kshatriya values like peace, humility, or labor.

Some of the characters mentioned seem to be ill chosen:

Ashwatthama, for example, is the only one of the Chiranjeevis to be
cursed into long life, and his inclusion seems surprising beside the
glittering resumes of other seven chiranjeevis who lived as long as him.
Duryodhan too is a highly dubious choice as his admirable pride turned
out to be very destructive for himself and his entire clan. Nahush met his
downfall in the very luxury that this shloka promotes. In Hindu
philosophy, Satya does not mean just the spoken truth, but also a
virtuous lifestyle. Being a woman, I find it surprising that a man who
staked his wife on dice is held up as a model of truth. On the subject of
women, it is notable that while all these personalities are extraordinary
and anyone would be lucky to have their qualities, all of them are men.
Sure, it is desirable for women as well to live long, be swift and live a
life of luxury. But all the same, many qualities like physical strength and
foe-destruction are generally not applicable to women. It would have
been nice if some of the names had been of women. As intelligent as
Sarasvati maybe? Or as prosperous as Lakshmi, who is a much better
symbol of wealth than the scandalous Nahush?

Though the meaning behind this shloka is now clear, many other
questions remain. Who wrote this shloka? In which epic or manual can it
be found? Since when has it been used in Nepal? Since when has it been
associated with Dashain? I could find no answers to these questions, and
I am looking forward to learning those answers too.