ଶ୍ରୀ ରାହୁ ସ୍ତୋତ୍ରମ୍ ୨

A hymn to Rahu spoken by Kashyapa, who is the father of both gods and demons and so the right person to speak well of this one. Its purpose is named before any name is: the quieting of every disease and, above all, the removal of the fear of poison — which is what Rahu is petitioned about, since the serpent-half of him governs venom. The names given are not softened. He is the enemy of the sun and the enemy of the moon; blazing with poison; frightful; dark-selfed; the one made hostile by Vishnu's discus, which is the beheading, stated as a fact about him rather than as a story; lord of serpents, sharp-tusked, cruel in his acts, and chief among the seizers. The hymn asks a being it has just described as an enemy of the luminaries to be favourable.