ശ്രീ നടേശ്വര ഭുജങ്ഗ സ്തുതിഃ

Ten verses in the bhujangaprayata metre, and the first of them is the dance itself described as an act of teaching. Calling all the worlds, sunk in the terrible round of becoming, by the sounds of his drum; the compassionate one giving fearlessness, lifting up the bent left foot that takes away the fear of those who have bowed, and showing it from his hand as if to say, this is the way to release. Everything in that verse — the drum, the raised foot, the pointing hand — is a part of the icon being read as a sentence. The closing verse refuses the usual reward outright: lord, let me not be born again nor die again; I do not ask you for the sovereignty of the gods, which is empty of even a drop of happiness.