ଶ୍ରୀ ମହାକାଲ ଶନି ମୃତ୍ଯୁଞ୍ଜଯ ସ୍ତୋତ୍ରମ୍

A long hymn from the Mārtaṇḍa Bhairava Tantra — the same tantra behind the Mārtaṇḍa Bhairava hymn in the Kālabhairava material — in which Śani is not the planet to be appeased but Śiva himself under the name Mahākāla Śani. Its opening verse says so outright: bearing a sword, the triple staff, arrow and bow, his body bright with the beauty of the blue mountain, Śambhu who is Mahākāla Śani, the enemy of the three cities, is victorious, destroyer of the whole host of demons. The frame is Gaurī questioning Śiva seated on Meru, and what she asks for is what the title promises — the thing he had spoken of before for the destruction of untimely death. Over a hundred verses follow. Its closing instruction is the usual restriction and unusually emphatic: whoever desires his own good must never tell it to anyone lacking devotion.