jaya durge! śivade! nīrājanam

A Sanskrit arati built on the pattern of the vernacular evening songs, its refrain hailing Durga the giver of good, its verses short enough to be sung against a lamp. The Goddess here is the lion-borne Gauri, daughter of the mountain king, the first power praised by gods and men; the fierce one who tears the wicked apart and crushes Mahisha; the beloved of the bearer of Ganga, calm and full of love beneath her ornaments; and Shankari, whose terrible trident is asked to take away the whole net of calamity. Three verses near the close widen past the singer altogether — that her light may brighten the world, that the stream of her compassion may cool this age and its sin, and that her worship may go on bestowing peace.