pracaṇḍa caṇḍikā stavarājaḥ

Seventeen verses given in the colophon to Shankaracharya, and though the title names Prachanda Chandika, the eighth verse settles who is addressed: two-armed and three-eyed, bright as a crore suns, the severed trunk streaming, the head with its loosened hair held in the left hand and the chopper in the other. That is Chinnamasta, and the hymn treats her as the seated power of the Shrividya — Vairochani in the manipura, above the three lingas, on the fire-chakra, roused from sleep like a coiled serpent-king by the hum-sound the teacher gives. Several verses are frankly operative: the colour under which she is contemplated changes with the rite intended, and the closing verses prescribe homa whose oblations belong to the left-hand tradition. The text calls itself a knowledge closed to the uninitiated.