śrī mahākālī stotraṃ

Dhyānam — Meditation verse 1: Mounted on a corpse, supremely terrifying, with dreadful fangs, bestower of boons; smiling, three-eyed, holding skull and cleaver in her hands; with flowing unbound hair, lolling tongue, repeatedly drinking blood; four-armed, gesturing boon and fearlessness — meditate upon that Goddess.

Dhyānam — Meditation verse 2: Mounted on a corpse, supremely terrifying, with dreadful fangs, smiling-faced; four-armed, holding sword, severed head, boon-gesture, and fearlessness — the auspicious one; garlanded with skulls, with lolling tongue, clad only in space (sky-clad); thus should one meditate upon Kāḷī, the dweller in the cremation ground.

Stotram — Verse 1: [I praise] Viśvēśvarī (ruler of the universe), Jagaddhātrī (sustainer of all creation), she who is responsible for preservation and dissolution; the divine Yoganidrā of Viṣṇu — Bhagavatī — the incomparable radiance of all light.

Verse 2: You are Svāhā (the oblation-word to the gods), you are Svadhā (oblation to the ancestors), you are indeed the Vaṣaṭkāra (the ritual exclamation) — you whose very nature is sacred sound. You are ambrosia (sudhā), O indestructible, eternal one — you who abide as the three-fold syllabic measure of Oṃ (the three mātrās: a, u, m).

Verse 3: You are the eternal half-mātrā (the resonant silence after Oṃ) — that which especially cannot be vocalized. You yourself are Sandhyā (the twilight juncture), Sāvitrī (the Gāyatrī mantra), O Goddess — the supreme transcendent Mother.

Verse 4: By you is this universe sustained; by you is this world created; by you is it protected, O Goddess — and you consume it entirely at the end of all time.

Verse 5: At the time of creation you are the very form of creation; at the time of sustenance you are the form of preservation; and at the end you are the form of dissolution — O you who are the very fabric and soul of this universe.

Verse 6: Mahāvidyā (the great wisdom), Mahāmāyā (the great illusion), Mahāmēdhā (the great intellect), Mahāsmṛtiḥ (the great memory), Mahāmōhā (the great delusion) — you are all these, O Mahādēvī, O Mahēśvarī.

Verse 7: You are Prakṛti (the primal nature) of all existence, manifesting through the three guṇas (sattva, rajas, tamas); you are Kālarātri (the Night of cosmic Time and death), Mahārātri (the Great Night of final dissolution), and the terrible Moharātri (the Night of universal delusion).

Verse 8: You are Śrī (prosperity), you are Īśvarī (sovereign power), you are Hrī (modesty), you are Buddhi (discernment and knowledge-bearing intellect), you are Lajjā (dignity), Puṣṭi (nourishment), Tuṣṭi (contentment), Śānti (peace), and Kṣānti (forbearance) itself.

Verse 9: You bear the sword (Khaḍginī), the trident (Śūlinī) — you are terrible (Ghōrā); you bear the mace (Gadinī) and the discus (Chakriṇī); the conch (Śaṅkhinī), the bow (Chāpinī), and you are armed with arrows, the fire-weapon (Bhuśuṇḍī), and the iron club (Parigha).

Verse 10: You are gentle; you are gentler than all gentle things; and more beautiful than all that is beautiful. You are the highest of all the high — you alone are the Supreme Sovereign (Paramēśvarī).

Verse 11: Whatever thing exists anywhere — real or unreal — O you who are the soul of all existence (Akhilātmikā), whatever power that thing possesses is you. How then can we adequately praise you?

Verse 12: By you — by whom Viṣṇu himself, the creator, sustainer, and devourer of the universe, is put under the spell of sleep — who in this world has the power to praise you?

Verse 13: Even Viṣṇu's taking of a body, mine (Brahmā's), and Śiva's — all are directed by you. Therefore, who can ever have the power to praise you?

Verse 14: O Goddess, thus praised through your own glorious powers — now bewitch these two irresistible demons, Madhu and Kaiṭabha.

Verse 15: Let the sovereign of the universe, the imperishable Acyuta (Viṣṇu), be swiftly roused to wakefulness — and let his awareness be directed to slay these two great demons.