śrīcaṇḍīrahasyam (nīlakaṇṭha dīkṣita viracita)

Thirty-six verses by Nilakantha Dikshita, and the secret of the title is an argument rather than a rite. The hymn reads the Devi Mahatmya back against itself and gives every act in it to her. Vishnu, it says, fights only as her outer self; the splendours and weapons the gods held were fruitless in their own hands and bore fruit only once she took them up; whoever sacrifices to Indra worships her womb, to Agni her eyes, to the sun her feet. Mahisha, it claims, reached her highest state the instant her sole touched his head, and the trident that followed was mere excitement of battle; the condition Shumbha was given was a ruse, since she had never forgotten Mahesha. The closing verses set the reasoning down and ask only that she be gracious of her own accord.