Shri Ram Jai Ram: Word-by-Word Meaning
श्री राम जय राम जय जय राम
Traditional; the thirteen-syllable mantra of the Ramdasi tradition
"Shri Ram Jai Ram Jai Jai Ram" is a short chant of the name of Rama. Spoken in full it has thirteen syllables (śrī-rā-ma ja-ya rā-ma ja-ya ja-ya rā-ma), and the Ramdasi tradition of Maharashtra calls it the thirteen-syllable mantra (trayodaśākṣarī mantra). It is sung as a kirtan and repeated on a string of beads in many parts of India.
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Verse
श्रीराम जय राम जय जय राम
Shrirama jaya rama jaya jaya rama
Our explanation "Holy Rama! Victory to Rama! Victory, victory to Rama!" Śrī is a word of honour, "glorious, holy"; rāma is Rama; jaya means "victory" or "be victorious". The name is said three times and "victory" three times; with every vowel sounded the line has thirteen syllables.
हिंदी अर्थ "श्रीराम! राम की जय! राम की जय, जय!" "श्री" आदर का शब्द है, "शोभायुक्त, पवित्र"; "राम" श्रीराम हैं; "जय" का अर्थ है "विजय" या "विजयी हों"। नाम तीन बार आता है और "जय" तीन बार; हर स्वर बोलने पर पंक्ति में तेरह अक्षर होते हैं।
Word by word
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Word by word
- श्रीराम śrīrāma · holy Rama, glorious Rama (compound, vocative or name) Dictionary: śrī-rāma, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 1100, col. 1 “the divine Rāma, i.e. Rāma-candra”
- जय jaya · victory (to), glory (to) (imperative 'be victorious', or the noun 'victory') Dictionary: 1. ji, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 420, col. 2 “to be victorious, gain the upper hand”; jaya, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 412, col. 3 “conquest, victory, triumph, winning, being victorious”
- राम rāma · Rama (name, vocative or stem form) Dictionary: rāma, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 877, col. 1 “pleasing, pleasant, charming, lovely, beautiful”
- जय jaya · victory (to), glory (to) (imperative 'be victorious', or the noun 'victory') Dictionary: 1. ji, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 420, col. 2 “to be victorious, gain the upper hand”; jaya, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 412, col. 3 “conquest, victory, triumph, winning, being victorious”
- जय jaya · victory (to), glory (to) (imperative 'be victorious', or the noun 'victory') Dictionary: 1. ji, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 420, col. 2 “to be victorious, gain the upper hand”; jaya, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 412, col. 3 “conquest, victory, triumph, winning, being victorious”
- राम rāma · Rama (name, vocative or stem form) Dictionary: rāma, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 877, col. 1 “pleasing, pleasant, charming, lovely, beautiful”
1 printing differs
Edition differences. Another printing or text reads this place differently.
- Verse division The 1909 Dhule printing reads: श्रीराम जयराम जयजयराम Ramiramdas, Bhaktirahasya 11.88 (1909, p. 45). The verse goes on to say that one who remembers this with love, without a break, is himself the Supreme Person, and so one should not forget Rama; these are the poem's own words.
Sanskrit text: Dāsbodh (दासबोध), Samarth Ramdas Swami's Marathi work in Hindi translation, by Madhavrao Sapre and Lakshmidhar Vajpeyi, first edition, 1913. Meanings: written for Pujadeep and checked against the cited edition. Source and changes
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Shri Ram Jai Ram
श्रीराम जय राम जय जय राम
Shrirama jaya rama jaya jaya rama
"Holy Rama! Victory to Rama! Victory, victory to Rama!" Śrī is a word of honour, "glorious, holy"; rāma is Rama; jaya means "victory" or "be victorious". The name is said three times and "victory" three times; with every vowel sounded the line has thirteen syllables.
(Meaning written for Pujadeep and checked against the cited edition.)
Text: Shankar Narhar Joshi, Chitrashala Steam Press, Poona, 1913 (public domain).
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About the Shri Ram Jai Ram
Word by word: śrī is a word of honour ("glorious, holy"); rāma is Rama; jaya means "victory" or "be victorious", so that jaya rāma is "victory to Rama". The whole says: "Holy Rama! Victory to Rama! Victory, victory to Rama!"
The Ramdasi tradition holds that Rama himself gave this mantra to the boy who became Samarth Ramdas (1608–1682), the saint and teacher of Maharashtra, at a Hanuman temple on the bank of the Godavari. A Hindi translation of Ramdas's Dasbodh, printed in Poona in 1913, tells this story as something "that is said", and the mantra on this page is read from that book. A poem of Ramiramdas, Ramdas's elder brother (so the 1913 book says, p. 2), printed in Dhule in 1909, writes the same words joined ("śrīrāma jayarāma jayajayarāma") and asks the reader never to forget Rama.
How to say it
Often sung "shree raam jai raam jai jai raam". In Hindi and Marathi speech the final "a" of rāma and jaya is dropped (rām, jay); counted as thirteen syllables, every vowel is sounded. The IAST line writes every vowel as spelled.
Festivals whose guides name this prayer
More prayers to Vishnu, Rama and Krishna
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Who wrote the Shri Ram Jai Ram?
Traditional; the thirteen-syllable mantra of the Ramdasi tradition.
Which text does this page follow?
Sanskrit text: Dāsbodh (दासबोध), Samarth Ramdas Swami's Marathi work in Hindi translation, by Madhavrao Sapre and Lakshmidhar Vajpeyi, first edition, 1913. Meanings: written for Pujadeep and checked against the cited edition. See the source
Source and licence
- Text
- Dāsbodh (दासबोध), Samarth Ramdas Swami's Marathi work in Hindi translation, by Madhavrao Sapre and Lakshmidhar Vajpeyi, first edition (Madhavrao Sapre, Lakshmidhar Vajpeyi, Shankar Narhar Joshi, Chitrashala Steam Press, Poona, 1913). Public domain. The Sanskrit on these pages was read from this printing’s page images.
- Our explanation
- Explanation written for this site from the sources listed here, and checked against the cited edition. It is not a translation and not the only way to read the text. Free to quote with credit.
- Checked
- Checked against the cited edition, October 14, 2026.
- Updated
- October 15, 2026