other · religious

Devi Mahatmya — Glory of the Goddess

c. 400–600 CE · Early Medieval India (c. 5th–7th century CE) · India (embedded in the Markandeya Purana)

Chapter I — The King and the Merchant

1Om! In days of old there was a king named Suratha,
2of the Chaitra dynasty, who ruled over the whole earth
3and was renowned for his valor and his wisdom.
4But his enemies, kinsmen of the Kolavidhvamsins,
5conquered him and took his kingdom.
6Weakened, driven from his throne,
7the king rode into the forest, alone,
8and there he came upon the hermitage of the sage Medhas.
9There, too, he met a merchant named Samadhi,
10driven from his home by his wife and sons,
11who had cast him out and taken his wealth.
12The two of them, king and merchant, wondered together:
13"Why do we still love those who have cast us out?
14Why do our hearts still turn to the wealth and family that have destroyed us?"
15Medhas, the sage, answered them:
16"That which drives you is Mahamaya, the Great Illusion,
17which is the Devi — the Goddess herself.
18She creates all this. She sustains all this. She destroys all this.
19By her power the world revolves; by her grace alone can one be free."

Chapter II — The Slaying of Mahishasura

20In ancient days, there was a great war between the gods and the asuras.
21The asura king Mahishasura, having taken the form of a buffalo,
22was terrible in his strength and could not be slain.
23The gods, defeated, fled from heaven, and gathered in council.
24From the wrath of each god a great light streamed forth.
25From Shiva's mouth came a light like the fire that consumes the worlds.
26From Vishnu came a light of splendid blue.
27From Brahma came light like a rising sun.
28From all the gods together came a great mass of light,
29blazing like a mountain of flame.
30This light coalesced, and took the form of a woman —
31more beautiful than any goddess, more terrible than any asura.
32Her face was formed from Shiva's light;
33her arms from Vishnu's; her feet from Brahma's;
34her hair from Yama's; her breasts from the Moon's.
35The gods gave her weapons — Shiva his trident, Vishnu his discus,
36Vayu his bow, Yama his rod, Indra his thunderbolt.
37Roaring like a lion, she mounted a great lion given her by Himavat,
38and rode forth to battle.

The Battle Against Mahishasura

39Mahishasura's armies rushed upon her.
40With one breath from her nostrils she scattered a thousand elephant-warriors.
41With one sweep of her trident she felled a hundred thousand foot-soldiers.
42Mahishasura himself, in his buffalo form, charged her.
43She caught him by the horns and threw him down.
44He took the form of a lion; she severed its head.
45He took the form of a man with a sword; she pierced him with arrows.
46He took the form of a great elephant; she cut off its trunk.
47He resumed his buffalo form.
48She leapt upon him, and pinned his neck with her foot,
49and drove her trident deep into his body.
50From his mouth Mahishasura came forth in his true form —
51and she severed his head from his shoulders with her great sword.

The Hymn of the Gods

52Then all the gods sang her praise:
53"Salutation to thee, O Devi, the granter of boons!
54Salutation to thee, O Auspicious One!
55To thee whose form is auspicious, we bow.
56"By whom all this universe is pervaded,
57who is in the form of consciousness in all beings —
58salutation to thee, salutation to thee!
59"To the Goddess who is knowledge in all beings, salutation, salutation!
60To the Goddess who is delusion in all beings, salutation, salutation!
61To the Goddess who is hunger in all beings, salutation, salutation!
62To the Goddess who is peace in all beings, salutation, salutation!
63To the Goddess who is sleep in all beings, salutation, salutation!
64To the Goddess who is compassion in all beings, salutation, salutation!"

The Slaying of Shumbha and Nishumbha

65Long after, two more asura kings arose — Shumbha and Nishumbha,
66and drove the gods again from heaven.
67Again the Devi came forth to battle. This time she took many forms —
68Kali the black, terrible, garlanded with skulls;
69the Seven Mothers, each armed with a different weapon;
70Chandika the fierce, riding on a lion.
71Nishumbha she slew first, with a mighty stroke of her sword.
72Shumbha, seeing his brother dead, ran upon her.
73"You claim to be the greatest," he cried, "yet you fight with an army of others!"
74Devi answered: "I am alone in the world. These forms of mine are mine.
75Look — I withdraw them into myself."
76All her forms disappeared into her.
77She stood alone before Shumbha, with her trident and her lion.
78Long they fought, and at last she pierced him through the heart.

The Return of the Kingdoms

79The heavens were restored to the gods.
80King Suratha and Samadhi the merchant, having heard the whole tale from Medhas,
81performed austerities on the banks of a river, meditating upon the Devi.
82After three years, she appeared to them in glory,
83and offered them boons.
84The king asked for the return of his kingdom in this life, and imperishable dominion in the next.
85The merchant asked for the wisdom that dissolves all attachment.
86Both were granted their wish.
87King Suratha returned to his throne and reigned again.
88Samadhi became a sage, and knew the Devi in his soul,
89and passed beyond the wheel of birth and death.

notes

The Devi Mahatmya ("Glory of the Goddess," also called Durga Saptashati — "The 700 Verses to Durga" — or Chandi) is a Sanskrit religious text embedded within the Markandeya Purana, and dating in its present form to around the 5th–7th centuries CE. It is the earliest surviving Sanskrit text to celebrate the Great Goddess (Mahadevi) as the supreme reality, containing within herself all divine power. The text consists of thirteen chapters organised into three principal narratives ("charitas"): the slaying of the asura Madhu-Kaitabha by the Goddess in her Vishnu-Yoganidra form; the slaying of Mahishasura, the great buffalo demon; and the slaying of Shumbha and Nishumbha. Each battle culminates in a hymn (stotra) of praise sung by the gods and the sages to the victorious Goddess. For the Shakta tradition of Hinduism, the Devi Mahatmya occupies a place comparable to the Bhagavad Gita for the Vaishnava, or the Rudram for the Shaiva — the foundational scripture of Goddess-worship. It is recited daily in temples across India and worldwide, especially during Navaratri, the nine-nights festival of the Goddess. Kali, Durga, Chandi, Chamunda, and the Seven Mothers, all named here, remain among the most widely worshipped deities of India. The hymn beginning "To the Goddess who is knowledge in all beings, salutation, salutation!" (Chapter V, verses 59–64 above) — the Ya Devi hymn — is one of the most-recited devotional passages in Sanskrit. Translation: composed from F. Max Müller (ed.), Sacred Books of the East, and Vasudeva Sharma, "Durgā Saptaśatī," Bombay, 1902. Public domain. Presented here as selected passages.

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