This edition aims at giving a lucid and readable translation of the great Sanskrit Text to the English reading public interested in Indian devotional literature. The Narayaneeyam is a text that takes a high place in Sanskrit literature both as a poem and as a devotional hymn. This double role is responsible for the great popularity it has attained wherever it has come to be know. As its author Meppathur Narayana Bhattatiri was a poet-devotee hailing from Kerala, and as it was traditionally connected with the great Krishna Temple at Guruvayoor in that State, its popularity was, till the beginning of this century, confined mostly to that part of the country; but since then it has come to be known all over South India, and editions of it with translation and comments in different languages have appeared. The author of this great Text Bhattatiri was born in 1560, and though he is today famous for his Narayaneeyam, his achievements in the field of scholarship had a much broader basis. The Narayaneeyam is undoubtedly the major work of Bhattatiri, and it is so for two reasons – one that it deals with the glories of Narayana, and the other that it is the composition by the poet Narayana. It is a work consisting of 1036 verses in various Sanskrit metres. It is a unique work in the Sanskrit language in so far as it combines in itself three distinct features: a) It is a literary masterpiece, a great poetical work comparable to the compositions of any of the classical Sanskrit poets. b) It is a hymn of rare devotional fervor having several distinctive features shared by no other hymn. C) It is an exposition of Vedanta with a dominance of devotional teachings.
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