ଶନିମଙ୍ଗଲସ୍ତୋତ୍ରମ୍

A hymn for the propitiation of Saturn that opens as a page of astrology rather than as praise. Manda is dark as black, west-facing, of the Saurāṣṭra country and the Kāśyapa lineage; lord of Capricorn and Aquarius; Budha and Śukra are his friends and Aṅgiras is neutral to him; his quarter is the west, Prajāpati and Yama his deities, his seat the shape of a bow; placed in the sixth or the third he does good. Only after the chart is drawn does the tone change into the confession that the graha hymns use — I do not know how to invite you and I do not know how to send you away; I do not know worship at all; forgive me, supreme lord. Setting the technical description first and the helplessness second is what distinguishes the maṅgala form: it is the prayer of somebody who has consulted an almanac and then come to the shrine anyway.