ଶ୍ରୀ ଦକ୍ଷିଣାମୂର୍ତି ନଵମଣିମାଲା ସ୍ତୋତ୍ରମ୍

A garland of nine gems, given by its colophon to the Navanatha Siddhas, and the most densely alliterative hymn in this group — each verse is worked over a single consonant until the sound itself becomes the ornament. The first is on the light he bears, tawny as a sliver of gold, the coiled mass of his matted hair, the brow broad with ash beneath the banyan, the sight of which carries off ruinous forgetfulness. The second, running on the letter dha and its neighbours, sets him below the fig tree with a throat that puts the rain cloud's depth to shame, wearing the family of serpents for ornament, his face gentle, the crescent gentle at his crown, his gentle half-smile the end of delusion. Its difficulty is deliberate, and it is meant to be recited slowly.