ஶ்ரீ விஷ்ணு ஸ்துதிஃ (நரஸிம்ஹபுராணே)

Brahmā's praise from the forty-seventh chapter of the Narasiṃha Purāṇa, and although it sits in that book it is addressed to Viṣṇu at large rather than to the lion form. Every line is a salutation, and they are arranged as a slow approach to the body from the outside in: to the dweller in the ocean of milk, to the one who sleeps on the serpent couch, to the god whose divine feet Śrī's hand touches; to yogic sleep, to the one seated on Tārkṣya; then to the fine hair, the fine eyes, the fine brow, the fine face, the fine ears. Naming the features one at a time is the method of the dhyāna rather than of the hymn, and the effect is of an image being assembled for contemplation. It closes on action rather than form, saluting the destroyer of the gods' distress, the doer of terrible deeds, and the one who made an end of Rāvaṇa.