About Valkala
Valkala is a free devotional reader of Hindu prayers in English, with meaning: Aartis, Chalisas, Mantras, selected Bhagavad Gita shlokas, meanings, and hands-free auto-scroll.
A note from Piyush
Prayer is how my day begins. I am a devotee of Hanuman Ji, and morning puja has been part of my routine for as long as I can remember. I grew up listening to stories from my dada-dadi and nana-nani, mesmerised by how they told them, and I have kept reading about Hinduism, its culture and its stories, ever since.
Valkala began at our home mandir. Our prayer books had grown old, some pages were torn, and I could no longer read every line properly. A new book would one day go the same way, and, like most families, we would never simply throw the old one out, because it is a holy book. I have seen the same worn, carefully kept books in many homes.
I design and build digital products for a living, so the answer felt natural: a digital library for myself, with the prayers clear and readable on any phone, alongside their meaning. I shared it with my family and friends, and now they use it too. Valkala is that library, opened to everyone.
I am a devotee, not a priest or a scholar. That is why every text here shows the edition it comes from.
What does Valkala mean?
Valkala (Sanskrit: वल्कल) means the bark of a tree, and a simple garment made from bark. It was the clothing of rishis and forest-dwelling ascetics.
In the Valmiki Ramayana (Ayodhya Kanda), Rama, Sita and Lakshmana put on valkala when they leave Ayodhya for their forest exile, setting aside royal dress for the plain covering of a life given to dharma.
We chose the name for that idea: devotion without ornament. Valkala keeps prayers plain and readable, in English and Hindi, with their meaning and their sources, so nothing stands between the reader and the words.
Who's behind Valkala
Valkala is created and maintained by Piyush Sachdeva, founder of Social Masla. Piyush sets the site's editorial standards and is responsible for what it publishes under the name Valkala Editorial.
That byline does not mean the texts have been reviewed by a scholar or priest: every page states that expert review has not been performed.
Transparent text scope
Named devotional readers contain a complete checked reading edition. Explicitly curated collections identify their selection, while source cards document editions and meaningful variants. Valkala Editorial is accountable for published copy and corrections; an organizational byline does not imply expert approval.
How accountability works
Every current verification record states Expert review: Not performed.