śrī śākambharī āratī (jaya śaṅkari)

A Sanskrit arati to Shakambhari in the metre of the Marathi ones, and each of its three stanzas is built on a single sound. The first runs almost entirely on the retroflex ta, a chain of compounds about the killing of Durgamasura and the shining of her girdle that is very nearly a tongue-twister. The second turns to ksha and keeps it up through every quarter — teacher of a hundred thousand demons, daughter of Daksha, whose glance is the fortune of the lord of yakshas, protector of the beggar whose release has been made visible — and closes on the doubled request, make protection, make protection. The third settles on the softer nta, asking her to end the three afflictions and be the refuge of the poet's line. The refrain names her home, the grove of Tilaka, and asks only that she let a corner of her merciful glance fall on the body of the one singing.