ജഗദമ്ബാര്തിക്യമ്

A Sanskrit arati by Mayureshvara, son of Ramanandana, whose refrain hails the Goddess as skilled in giving every boon to those who bow and as having lifted up lakhs of those who came to her for refuge. The opening verse claims her as the mother of all and the first among the truly learned, to be established by shruti, smriti, shastra and poets alike. The second makes creation, maintenance and dissolution her play and calls her the wedge of fire that burns the forest of a suppliant's sins. The third turns on the poet's own name: those who serve her are her peacocks, and the memory of her the rain-cloud they wait for. Speech itself, it ends, is a child in her presence — where is nectar, and where is wine?