Durga Saptashati
Ekadashodhyaya
CHAPTER 11
Hymn to Narayani
The Rishi said:
1-2. When the great lord of asuras was slain there by the Devi, Indra and other devas led by Agni, with their object fulfilled and their cheerful faces illumining the quarters, praised her, Katyayani: The devas said:
3. ‘O Devi, you who remove the sufferings of your suppliants, be gracious. Be propitious, O Mother of the whole world. Be gracious, O Mother of the universe. Protect the universe. You are, O Devi, the ruler of all that is moving and unmoving.
4. ‘You are the sole substratum of the world, because you subsist in the form of the earth. By you, who exist in the shape of water, all this (universe) is gratified, O Devi of inviolable valour!
5. ‘You are the power of Vishnu, and have endless valour. You are the primeval maya, which is the source of the universe; by you all this (universe) has been thrown into an illusion. O Devi. If you become gracious, you become the cause of final emancipation in this world.
6. ‘All lords are your aspects O Devi; so are all women in the world, endowed with various attributes. By you alone, the Mother, this world is filled. What praise can there be for you who are of the nature of primary and secondary expression regarding (objects)worthy of praise?
7. ‘When you have been lauded as the embodiment of all beings, the Devi (the effulgent one), and bestower of the enjoyment and liberation, what words, however excellent, can praise you?
8. ‘Salutation be to you, O Devi Narayani, O you who abide as intelligence in the hearts of all creatures, and bestow enjoyment and liberation.
9. ‘Salutation be to you, O Narayani, O you who, in the form of minutes, moments and other divisions of time, bring about change in things, and have (thus ) the power to destroy the universe.
10. ‘Salutation be to you O Narayani, O you who are the good of all good, O auspicious Devi, who accomplish every object, the giver of refuge, O three eyed Gauri!
11. ‘Salutation be to you, O Narayani, you who have the power of creation, sustentation and destruction and are eternal. You are the substratum and embodiment of the three gunas.
12. ‘Salutation be to you, O Narayani, O you who are intent on saving the dejected and distressed that take refuge under YOU. O you, Devi, who remove the sufferings of all!
13. ‘Salutation be to you, O Narayani, O you who ride in the heavenly chariot yoked with swans and assume the form of Brahmani, O Devi, who sprinkle water with Kusa grass.
14. ‘Salutation be to you, O Narayani, O you who bear the trident, the moon and the serpent, and ride a big bull, and have the form of Mahesvari.
15. ‘Salutation be to you, O Narayani, O you who are attended by peacock and cock, and bear a great spear. O you, who are sinless and take the form of Kaumari.
16. ‘Salutation be to you, O Naraayani, O you who hold the great weapons of conch, discus, club and bow, and take the form of Vaisnavi, be gracious.
17. ‘Salutation be to you, O Narayani, O you who grasp a huge formidable discus, and uplift the earth with thy tusk, O auspicious Devi, who has a boar-like form.
18. ‘Salutation be to you, O Narayani, O you who, in the fierce form of a man-lion, put forth your efforts to sly the daityas, O you who possess the benevolence of saving the three worlds.
19. ‘Salutation be to you, O Narayani, you who have a diadem and a great thunderbolt, are dazzling with a thousand eyes, and took away the life of Vrtra, O Aindri!
20. ‘Salutation be to you, O Narayani, O you who in the form of Sivaduti slew the mighty hosts of the daitya, O you of terrible form and loud throat!
21. ‘Salutation be to you, O Narayani, O you who have a face terrible with tusks, and are adorned with a garland of heads, Chamunda, O slayer of Munda!
22. ‘Salutation be to you, O Narayani, O you who are good fortune, modesty, great wisdom, faith, nourishment and Svadha, O you who are immovable O you, great Night and great Illusion.
23. ‘Salutation be to you, O Narayani, O you who are intelligence and Sarasvati, O best one, prosperity, consort of Vishnu, dark one, nature, be propitious.
24. ‘O Queen of all, you who exist in the form of all, and possess every might, save us from error, O Devi. Salutation be to you, Devi Durga!
25. ‘May this benign countenance of yours adorned with three eyes, protect us from all fears. Salutation be to you, O Katyayani!
26. ‘Terrible with flames, exceedingly sharp destroyer of all the asuras, may your trident guard us from fear. salutation be to you, O Bhadrakali!
27. ‘May your bell that fills the world with its ringing, and destroys the prowess of the daityas, guard us, O Devi, as a mother protects her children, from all evils.
28. ‘May your sword, smeared with the mire like blood and fat of asuras, and gleaming with rays, be for our welfare, O Chandika, we bow to you.
29. ‘When satisfied, you destroy all illness but when wrathful you (frustrate) all the longed-for desires. No calamity befalls men who have sought you. Those who have sought you become verily a refuge of others.
30. ‘This slaughter that you, O Devi, multiplying your won form into many, have now wrought on the great asuras who hate righteousness, O Ambika, which other (goddess) can do that work?
31. ‘Who is there except you in the sciences, in the scriptures, and in the Vedic sayings the light the lamp of discrimination? (Still) you cause this universe to whirl about again and again within the dense darkness of the depths of attachment.
32. ‘Where raksasas and snakes of virulent poison (are), where foes and hosts of robbers (exist), where forest conflagrations (occur), there and in the mid-sea, you stand and save world.
33. ‘O Queen of the universe, you protect the universe. As the self of the universe, you support the universe. You are the (goddess) worthy to be adored by the Lord of the universe. Those who bow in devotion to you themselves become the refuge of the universe.
34. ‘O Devi, be pleased and protect us always from fear of foes, as you have done just now by the slaughter of asuras. And destroy quickly the sins of all worlds and the great calamities which have sprung from the maturing of evil portents.
35. ‘O Devi you who remove the afflictions of the universe, be gracious to us who have bowed to you. O you worthy of adoration by the dwellers of the three worlds, be boon-giver to the worlds.’ The Devi said:
36-37. ‘O Devas, I am prepared to bestow a boon. Choose whatever boon you desire in your mind, for the welfare of the world. I shall grant it.’ The devas said:
38-39. ‘ O Queen of all, this same manner, you must destroy all our enemies and all the afflictions of three worlds. The Devi said:
40-41. ‘When the twenty-eighth age has arrived during the period of Avaisvsvata Manu, two other great asuras, Sumbha and Nisumbha will be born.
42. ‘Then born from the womb of Yasoda, in the home of cowherd Nanda, and dwelling on the Vindhya mountains, I will destroy them both.
43. ‘And again having incarnated in a very terrible form on the earth, I shall slay the danavas, who are the descendants of Vipracitti.
44. ‘When I shall devour the fierce and great asuras descended from Vipracitti, my teeth shall become red like the flower of pomegranate.
45. ‘Therefore when devas in heaven and men on the earth praise me, shall always talk of me as the ‘Red-toothed.’
46. ‘And again when rain shall fail for a period of hundred years, propitiated by the munis I shall be born on the drought-ridden earth, but not womb-begotten.
47. ‘Then I shall behold the munis with a hundred eyes and so mankind shall glorify me as the ‘hundred-eyed.’
48. ‘At that time, O devas, I shall maintain the whole world with life -sustaining vegetables, born out of my own (cosmic) body, till rains set in.
49. ‘I shall be famed on the earth then as Sakambhari. At that very period I shall slay the great asura named Durgama.
50-53. ‘Thereby I shall have the celebrated name of Durgadevi and again, assuming a terrible form on the mountain Himalaya, I shall destroy the raksasas for the protection of the munis. Then all the munis, bowing their bodies reverently, shall praise me, and thereby I shall have the celebrated name of Bhimadevi. When the (asura) named Aruna shall work great havoc in the three worlds, having taken a (collective) bee-form, consisting of innumerable bees, I shall slay the great asura for the good of the world.
54-55. ‘And then people shall laud me every where as Bhramari. Thus whenever trouble arises due to the advent of the danavas, I shall incarnate and destroy the foes.’ Here ends the eleventh chapter called ‘Hymn to Narayani’ of Devi-mahatmyam in Markandeyapurana, during the period of Savarni, the Manu.