ശ്രീ രമാപത്യഷ്ടകമ്

Eight verses to the husband of Rama, each closing on the same salutation, and each half-line pairing a word with its own denial so that the two chime as well as contradict. He is bodied and bodiless; he holds the mace and is free of disease, the same syllables doing both; attached to Kamala's face and detached; unattainable by the wicked and easy of reach for the good; made of all the parts and without parts; sung by the whole of scripture for his qualities and having none. The device is kept up through every verse without slackening, and it is the hymn rather than its ornament: what is said about him here can only be said in contradictory pairs. The last verse promises the supreme station of Vishnu to whoever reads it without wavering.