śrī santoṣī mātā cālīsā

Forty verses in Hindi to Santoshi Mata, the goddess of the Friday vow whose worship spread widely in the twentieth century, and the chalisa turns on her name throughout: she gives santosh, contentment, to those devoted to her, and the name is treated as the description. The opening doha salutes her feet as the giver of prosperity and accomplishment, and says that merely holding her in mind carries a man across the ocean of sorrow. What the verses recount is the keeping of her vow and what follows from keeping it. The closing verse gives the promise the form always gives, that whoever sings it daily crosses the ocean of becoming.