Sri

Sri (Devanagari: श्री, IAST; Śrī), also transliterated as Shri or Shree or shre is a word of Sanskrit origin, used in the Indian subcontinent as polite form of address equivalent to the English "Mr." in written and spoken language, or as a title of veneration for deities (usually translated as "Lord").

Etymology

Sri has the root meaning of radiance, or diffusing light, much like the English word "illuminate".^[1][2] In Sanskrit grammar, Sri has the feminine gender. It is gender-specific in Sanskrit, but the assumption that it is masculine has resulted in the titles of Shrimati (abbreviated Smt) for married women and Sushri for women (independent of marital status).

Usage

Sri (also Sree, Shri, Shree, shre , श्री) polite form of address equivalent to the English "Mr."^[2] The title is derived from Sanskrit श्रीमान् (śrīmān). This use may stem from the Puranic conception of prosperity.

Śrī is also frequently used as an epithet of some Hindu gods, in which case it is often translated into English as Lord.

Sri Devi (or in short Sri, another name of Lakshmi, consort of Vishnu) is the devi (goddess) of wealth according to Hindu beliefs. Among today's orthodox Vaishnavas, the English word "Shree" is a revered syllable and is used to refer to Lakshmi as the supreme goddess, while "Sri" or "Shri" is used to address humans.

Śrī is one of the names of Ganesha, the Hindu god of prosperity.

Other languages

South and Southeast Asia

Śri is used in most languages of the Indian subcontinent and Seri is used in most of the languages of southeast Asia:

• Sinhala language : ශ්‍රී
• Bengali language: শ্রী
• Devanagari: श्री
• Indonesian: Sri, often used as a title of veneration, however "Sri" also the name of ancient Java rice goddess Dewi Sri
• Javanese language treats it as a common part of names in, for example, the name of former Indonesian finance minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati.
• Kannada: ಶ್ರೀ
• Malay: Seri, سري
• Malayalam: ശ്രീ
• Myanmar: Thiri (သီရိ). See Tamil below.
• Oriya: ଶ୍ରୀ
• Punjabi: ਸ਼੍ਰੀ
• Tamil: ஸ்ரீ (Shre) (Shree), its Tamil equivalent (Thiru) is also used.
• Thai Siri (ศิริ) and Sri or Si (ศรี) (Thai place names below)
• Telugu: శ్రీ

Place names

The honorific is incorporated into many place names. A partial list:

• Sree Khetra Name of the Puri Jagannath Dham, Orissa. one of the four Dham in Hindu religion .
• Sree Mandira (Oriya:ଶ୍ରୀମନ୍ଦିର)is a famous Hindu temple dedicated to Jagannath (Krishna) and located in the coastal town of Puri in the state of Orissa, India.
• Sri Lanka, an island country at the south tip of India.
• Sri Perumbudur, a town in the State of Tamil Nadu
• Sri Rangam, an island zone in the city of Tiruchirapalli, in South India.
• Sri Nagar where nagar means a city is the capital of the northernmost state of Jammu and Kashmir
• Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte the administrative capital of Sri Lanka.
• Srivijaya, a former kingdom centered on Sumatra, Indonesia.
• Sri (Thai: ศรี), pronounced and usually transliterated Si in Thailand place names:

Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya (พระนครศรีอยุธยา), formal name of city and province of Ayutthaya

Nakhon Si Thammarat (นครศรีธรรมราช) city and province

Sisaket (ศรีสะเกษ) city and province

• Wat Si Saket in Vientiane, Laos.
• Bandar Seri Begawan,  Brunei
• Sree's, Curry in a Hurry, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.

Other current usage

Sri, along with the forms Srimati and Susri, is often used by Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs and Jains as a respectful affix to the names of celebrated or revered persons.

There is a common practice of writing Śrī as first word centralised in line at the beginning of a document.

Another usage is as an emphatic compound (which can be used in multiple: sri sri, or sri sri sri, etc.) in princely styles, notably in Darbar Sri, Desai Shri, and Thakur Sri or as in Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, a Hindu spiritual Guru and leader.

The honorific can also be applied to objects and concepts that are widely respected, such as the Sikh religious text, the Sri Guru Granth Sahib. Similarly, when the Ramlila tradition of reenacting the Ramayana is referred to as an institution, the term Sri Ramlila is frequently used.

Indian Music

Its usage is common as a raga name, either as a prefix or postfix. Some examples are Sree, Bagesree, Dhanasree, Malasree, Jayantasree, Ragesree, and Sree Ranjani.

References

1. ^ Turner, Sir Ralph Lilley; Dorothy Rivers Turner (January 2006) [1962]. A comparative dictionary of the Indo-Aryan languages. (Accompanied by three supplementary volumes: indexes, compiled by Dorothy Rivers Turner: 1969. – Phonetic analysis: 1971. – Addenda et corrigenda: 1985. ed.). London: Oxford University Press,. p. 736. http://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/contextualize.pl?p.4.soas.198140. Retrieved 22 April 2010. "śrīˊ 12708 śrīˊ feminine ' light, beauty ' R̥gveda, ' welfare, riches ' Avestan (Iranian) Pali Prakrit sirī – feminine, Prakrit sī – feminine ' prosperity '; Marāṭhī – s honorific affix to names of relationship (e.g. āj̈ā – s, ājī – s) Jules Bloch La Formation de la Langue Marathe Paris 1920, page 412. – Sinhalese siri ' health, happiness ' (Wilhelm Geiger An Etymological Glossary of the Sinhalese Language Colombo 1941, page 180) a loanword from Pali <-> See addendum śrḗyas – , śrḗṣṭha – . See Addenda: śrīˊ – occurring for the first time in Addenda : śrīparṇī – ." 
2. ^ ^{a b} Howard Measures (1962). Styles of address: a manual of usage in writing and in speech. Macmillan. pp. 136, 140. http://books.google.com/books?id=Zfg9AAAAYAAJ. Retrieved 19 January 2011.