śrī saṃkaṭā cālīsā

A Hindi chalisa to Sankata, the goddess named for the trouble she takes away, and it opens on an image much fiercer than that name suggests: sword in hand, brows terrible, red-eyed, a garland of heads at the throat, riding a lion. The middle recounts what she has done rather than what she is — Raktabija killed, Shumbha and Nishumbha's bellies torn open, Mahishasura killed after every god had lost the battle, and the appearing as Kali with an army. The last third turns domestic and sorts its petitions by petitioner: the woman who offers vermilion, those who worship for a son, the poor man, the sick man. Its closing dohas are signed and placed, by Shivdat Mishra of Majhauli village in Deoria district, on the full moon of Margashirsha; he gives his father as Santsharan, which the Baglamukhi Chalisa in this corpus does too.