śrī ravi aṣṭakam

Eight verses from the Sāmba Purāṇa in which only the first half of each is new: the second half is fixed, and every verse arrives at the same two lines — he who dries up the mire of disease and destroys the mass of sin, to Ravi garlanded with rays I have gone for refuge. What varies above that refrain is the image. He is the great jewel on the crest of the eastern mountain and the one friend of the lotus beds; he is set on ending darkness and is himself free of sickness; he dyes the three worlds with his own colour; he is the maker of the division between night and day; his horses are the green of a parrot's wing; he is the single lamp of the world, reddening at rising and at setting. The closing verse promises that whoever bows and recites at daybreak is released from all disease and sin, and comes near to Savitṛ.