śrī nāgeśvara stutiḥ

Thirteen verses to Nagesha, the serpent-lord form of Shiva, and every one closes on the same short line — may that Naga be gracious to me. The first two verses set out a difficulty rather than a description: the god who is the self of all beings and is himself the one to be worshipped, beyond the strands and made of them; standing in the heart and yet standing far off, the weaver of illusion for all embodied beings, to be reached in the mind by yogins alone. The hymn holds that paradox without resolving it. Its closing verse turns unexpectedly practical and asks for four particular things: the knowledge that stops the speech of an opponent, eloquence, subtlety of understanding, and a son to carry on the line.