અહો વીર્યં અહો શૌર્યં

A single verse, and one of the most quoted lines in the Narasiṃha tradition: what valour, what heroism, what strength of arm — Narasiṃha is the supreme god, Ahobila is indeed strength. It works entirely by exclamation, five times over, with no request attached and nothing asked for. The line turns on a pun that also explains a place-name: ahobalam is both 'what strength' and Ahobilam, the hill shrine in Andhra where the nine forms of Narasiṃha are worshipped and where the god is said to have appeared from the pillar. Tradition gives the words to the gods watching the moment itself, which is why the verse is an outcry rather than a prayer, and it is recited at the start of longer Narasiṃha texts and on its own at the shrine.