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Ram Raksha Stotra (श्रीरामरक्षास्तोत्रम्) is a Sanskrit stotra, hymn of praise, used as a prayer for protection to Lord Rama. This stotra is Written by Budha Kaushika Rishi.

As I discuss in this Question, there is not a lot of information about Budha Kaushika Rishi like his date of birth and when he created Ram Raksha Stotra

Also, there is a Shiva Raksha stotra, It is a Sanskrit stotra, hymn of praise, used as a prayer for protection to Lord Shiva. This stotra is Written by Yagnavalkya Rishi.

If one reads these 2 stotra, both are almost identical to each other in terms of its format because in each of this stotra, we are asking Rama and Shiva to protect different parts of our body.

Of course, deity is different but there are other similarities too.

Let's consider below instance, from Shiva Raksha

इमां नारायणः स्वप्ने शिवरक्षां यथाऽऽदिशत् । प्रातरुत्थाय योगीन्द्रो याज्ञवल्क्यः तथाऽलिखत् ॥१२॥

Meaning:

For this protection of Lord Shiva was revealed, By Lord Vishnu in the dream to Yagna Valkya, Who wrote it, as he was told, as soon as he woke up in the morning.

And this Instance from Ram Raksha:

आदिष्टवान् यथा स्वप्ने रामरक्षामिमां हर: । तथा लिखितवान् प्रात: प्रबुद्धो बुधकौशिक: ॥१५॥

Meaning:

This protective hymn of Rama, as told by Shiva (Hara) in the dream । Was written down (as told) by the enlightened (by Shiva's visitation) Budhakoushika in the morning (upon waking up)

From Above, even the seed of origin of these 2 stotra appears so much similar.

My Question: Which out of Ram Raksha or Shiva Raksha is written first?

I guess if we can get the life duration of it's Author(like who was older between Budha Kaushika Rishi or Yagnavalkya Rishi) then we can probably say which one is composed first, but unfortunately I could not found much life info about these 2 Author Rushis.

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AADHinduism
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    Well, if it helps I have two data points on Yajnavalkya. First of all, he was a shishya of Vaishampayana, the disciple of Vyasa who told the Mahabharata to Arjuna's great-grandson Janamejaya. Second of all, he had interactions with a certain king called Janaka. However, all the kings of Mithila were called Janaka, so it's unclear whether this Janaka is the same as the famous father of Sita (whose personal name was Siradhwaja), or if it's some other king of Mithila. – Keshav Srinivasan May 14 '16 at 14:02
  • I don't know when Budha Kaushika lived, because I don't know who he is, but in case if we could figure out what scriptures these two hymns are from that could be another way to determine which hymn is older. – Keshav Srinivasan May 14 '16 at 14:05
  • @KeshavSrinivasan As per wiki, Yajnavalkya is from 7th century BCE...but you know its Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yajnavalkya. But there is no wiki page for Budh Kaushik Rishi. – AADHinduism May 14 '16 at 15:36
  • @KeshavSrinivasan do you think these 2 stotra are part of scriptures? they could very well be written as a separate/dedicated praise for their respective deity...isn't it? – AADHinduism May 14 '16 at 15:38
  • @Keshav Srinivasan In Mahabharat Suka also met king Janaka... which Janaka was that? Was he father of Godesses Sita.... when did Janaka died...? – Tezz May 14 '16 at 15:51
  • @WhisperingMonk Well, for the most part in ancient times individual hymns weren't passed down as independent documents. Pretty much the only Stotras we have are either those which are embedded in larger scriptures, like Puranas and Agamas, or those which were composed relatively recently, like the Stotras of Adi Shankaracharya and Yamunacharya. – Keshav Srinivasan May 14 '16 at 16:32
  • @Tezz Well, there are so many kings of Mithila that came after Sita's father; see this chapter of the Srimad Bhagavatam: http://www.vedabase.com/en/sb/9/13 But I'm not sure which of these kings lived in the time of the Mahabharata, which is when Shuka would have met that king Janaka. I think the best way to find that out is to check what ruler of Mithila, if any, fought in the Mahabharata war. Or we could find out who was ruling Mithila during Yudhishthira's Rajasuya Yagna. – Keshav Srinivasan May 14 '16 at 17:03
  • @KeshavSrinivasan Its interesting to know that stotra are part of other more larger scriptures. Because, if you read Say Ram Raksha, you can very much think/assume it as independent/isolated work because it sounds so much self-contained and almost everything written in it can be easily understood (provided you know Sanskrit), in its OWN Context and without any scriptural reference. – AADHinduism May 14 '16 at 17:15
  • @WhisperingMonk Well, Stotras are usually self-contained, because it's not like at the time of composition they were composed as part of a larger work. Rather, after they were composed they were embedded in a larger work. For instance, in the Mahabharata Bhishma tells Yudhishthira the Vishnu Sahasranamam. Bhishma wasn't the author of the Sahasrananam, but it's through Bhishma's telling of the Sahasranamam that we have it available to us. Another example is the other Rama Raksha Stotram found in the Padma Purana. That hymn wasn't composed for that Purana, but the Padma Purana still discusses it – Keshav Srinivasan May 14 '16 at 18:07
  • See This the first page tries to speculate who was Budha kaushik rishi. – Second Mar 04 '21 at 05:49

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