śrī gaṅgādhara stotram

A hymn to Śiva as Gaṅgādhara by Appayya Dīkṣita, whose Āditya Stotra Ratna is also in this corpus, and every verse closes on the same phrase — devoted to the protection of the afflicted. The verses are a catalogue of rescues, each a separate story told in one stanza. Seeing Brahmā and the gods burning from the poison churned out of the ocean of milk, he swallowed the hālāhala without hesitation as though in play. He gave the boundless ocean of milk to Upamanyu, the boy who had tasted milk once at his uncle's house and then wept for it at home. He struck death in the chest and saved Mārkaṇḍeya, coming out of the liṅga to do it. He gave the discus to Hari in exchange for an offered eye. He roused the unfailing weapon for Arjuna. The last verse names him: asked to bear the force of the Ganges, he took her in his matted hair and let her down gently onto the earth.