ଶ୍ରୀ ଶନୈଶ୍ଚର ରକ୍ଷା ସ୍ତଵଃ

A protection recited limb by limb, and its frame gives it an author with a reason to have written it — Nārada relates that King Yudhiṣṭhira, having meditated on Gaṇapati, composed this excellent hymn to Śanaiścara. The body is then handed over piece by piece, and each guardian is named by a different epithet so that no two limbs are given to the same aspect: may the son of the Sun guard my head and the son of Chāyā my forehead; the hollow-eyed guard my eyes and the one dark as a peacock's throat my ears; the terrible one guard my nose and the strong-faced my mouth; Saṃvartaka guard my shoulders and the giver of fear my arms. Its closing verse asks for nothing beyond the ordinary and is the more convincing for it — one who recites this daily becomes happy, with children, and long-lived.