ଶୁକ୍ର ସ୍ତୋତ୍ରମ୍

A short hymn to Venus under the title by which the other side would have known him, teacher of the demons, and it does not apologise for the position. He is greeted as lord of poets and the best of those who understand the offerings made to gods and to the dead; as a worshipper of Sarasvati; as one who loves the lore that revives the dead. Then the pupils are named one after another, and they are all asuras: honoured by the daityas, ruler over their king, giver of life to Bali, the great delight of Prahlada, the teacher of Virocana. One epithet gathers the whole difficulty in three words, calling him the food of the gods' enemies' thought, the one who dwells in the mind of those against the gods. The hymn takes him as he is and asks nothing to be explained away.