śrī viṣṇu stavanam (mārkaṇḍeya kṛtam)

Nine verses from the tenth chapter of the Narasimha Purana, spoken by Markandeya, each ending on a salutation. The first is built on a single sound and on a single idea at once — the Man, the Man-lion, the lord of men, the unfallen, long of arm, eyes wide as lotuses, his lotus feet worshipped by the lords of the earth — and closes by naming him the ancient Person. What follows keeps that formal register: lord of the world, whose house is the ocean of milk, bow in hand, saluted by the crowds of sages, husband of Shri and bearer of Shri. One verse goes back before the world, to the god lying of old on the coils of the endless serpent, sprinkled by the spray from the waves of the milk-sea.