ଶ୍ରୀରୁଦ୍ରଯାମଲେ ଦେଵୀଶ୍ଵରସଂଵାଦେ ଶ୍ରୀ ରୁଦ୍ରଚଣ୍ଡୀ ସ୍ତୋତ୍ରମ୍

A hymn to Rudrachandi, not to Rudra — the goddess of that name, from a conversation between the Devi and the Lord in the Rudrayamala, and its opening verses are pure iconography. Red in colour, the great goddess adorned with the shining moon, dressed in silk, ornamented with gold, her hands in the gestures of boon and fearlessness, decked with a garland of skulls, seated in the light of a crore of moons. The second gives her the fiercer half of the picture: gaping-mouthed, her tongue a little lolling, seated upon the breast of the gold-coloured great god, holding a rosary and absorbed in the work of repetition, giver of what is wished for. That the goddess repeats a mantra while seated on Shiva is a detail worth noticing; it is not a common one.