śrīmārkaṇḍeya viracitaṃ caṇḍikā stotram

Eleven verses in sragdhara, given in the colophon to Markandeya, in which the seed-syllables are not a preface but the substance: each verse opens on a chain of bijas, and every one of them ends on the same line, that fierce Chandamunda burn away sin. The form held before the reciter belongs to the cremation ground — corpse-borne, fleshless of shank, lolling-tongued, laughing kahakaha, a skull in the left hand and a newly whetted blade in the right, the sun and moon for earrings, a comet for a crown-garland, two serpent kings for chains and the stars for a necklace. The tenth verse identifies her with the Mother goddesses one by one, and the eleventh asks her protection on the mountain, in the torrent, in battle, from tiger, thief and snake, at sea and in fire.