{"collection":"tantra","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/tantra/htg/htg25.htm","path":"tantra/htg/htg25.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/tantra/htg/htg25.htm","text":"Hymns to the Goddess, by John Woodroffe (Arthur Avalon), [1913]\n1\nI SALUTE Thee, leader of Yogis,\u00a03 one with the Brahman,\u00a04\n Dweller in the Mand\u0101ra forest.\n Virgin,\u00a05 K\u0101l\u012b,\u00a06 Spouse of K\u0101p\u0101la,\u00a07 of tawny hue.\u00a08\n Salutation to Thee, Bhadrak\u0101l\u012b.\u00a09\n Reverence to Thee, Mah\u0101k\u0101li,\u00a010\nCa\u1e47\u1e0d\u012b, 1 Fearless one. 2 Salutation to Thee, Saviour 3 imbued with all good fortune. 4\n2\nOf the race of Kata\u00a05 greatly worshipful,\n Dreadful one,\u00a06 Giver of victory,\u00a07 Victrix,\u00a08\n Who holdeth a peacock's tail for Thy banner,\n And art adorned with various jewels,\n Bearing formidable spear, sword, and shield (made of skin).\n Younger Sister of the chief of cowherds,\u00a09\n Eldest one,\u00a010 born in the family of the cowherd Nanda,\u00a011\n Delighting in the blood of Mahi\u1e63a,\u00a012\nKau\u015bik\u012b, 1 wearing yellow garments.\n3\nWith auspicious smile,\n Whose mouth devoured all demons,\u00a02\n Salutation to Thee, delighter in battle.\n Um\u0101,\u00a03 giver of sh\u0101ka,\u00a04\n In the form of Mahe\u015bvara,\u00a05 and in that of V\u0101sudeva,\u00a06\n Destructress of Kaitabha,\u00a07\n Golden-eyed, with half-opened eyes\u00a08, grey-eyed,\u00a09\n Veda and \u015aruti,\u00a010 and most sacred.\n Propitious to Br\u0101hmanas engaged in the sacrificial rites,\n Thou art J\u0101taveda,\u00a011\n And art ever present in the sacred shrines\u00a012 in the chief cities of Jambudv\u012bpa.\u00a013\n4\nOf Sciences Thou art the knowledge of Brahman,\n Thou art the liberation of embodied beings,\u00a01\n Mother of Skanda.\u00a02\n O Bhagavat\u012b\u00a03 Durg\u0101!\u00a04 Thou liveth in inaccessible regions--\n Sv\u0101h\u0101,\u00a05 Svadh\u0101,\u00a06 Kal\u0101, and K\u0101\u1e63\u1e6d\u1e25\u0101,\u00a07\n Sarasvat\u012b,\u00a08 Savitr\u012b.\u00a09\n Mother of Vedas and Ved\u0101nta\u00a010 art Thou called.\n I praise Thee from the pure depth of my heart.\n By Thy favour let us be victorious in battle.\n Ever dost Thou abide in inaccessible regions,\n In places full of fear and difficulty;\n In the houses of Thy devotees, and in P\u0101t\u0101la.\u00a011\n In battle Thou conquereth the D\u0101navas.\u00a012\nThou art drowsiness 1 and slumber. 2\n5\nThou hast power to show wonderfully the world,\u00a03\n Modesty,\u00a04 and beauty.\u00a05\n Cause of creation and destruction,\u00a06\n Creatrix,\u00a07 Mother,\u00a08 contentment, nourishment, constancy,\n Light, Supportress of the sun and moon,\n Power\u00a09 of Him who possesses power,\u00a010\n In ecstasy\u00a011 Thou art perceived by Siddhas and C\u0101ranas.\u00a012\n161:1 See p. 120, note 9; , note 1: p. 81, note 1.\n161:2 Bh\u012bshma Parvan, s. 43 (see Muir, O. S. T. iv, 432).\n161:3 Siddhasen\u0101n\u012b. The siddhas are here yogis and sages. N\u012blakan\u1e6dha (cited post as N.), in his Commentary, says the term means: She who, as leader (literally, commander of an army), gives success in yoga and attainment of the supreme abode.\n161:4 \u0100ryye. Literally, noble, but here means, as N\u012blakantha says, prapya-brahmasvar\u016bpa--the own form of the accessible Brahman, as distinguished from the nirgu\u1e47a Brahman beyond thought and speech.\n161:5 Kum\u0101r\u012b. It also means (N.) that She is very young.\n161:7 K\u0101p\u0101l\u012b, one of Her forms. K\u0101p\u0101la is Rudr\u0101, as leader of K\u0101p\u0101las (K\u0101p\u0101likas).\n161:8 Kapil\u0101k\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47apingal\u0101.\n161:9 Auspicious K\u0101l\u012b, who gives prosperity to Her devotees.\n161:10 See p. 152, note 3. The great K\u0101l\u012b, Destructress in the form of death.\n162:1 Spouse of Ca\u1e47\u1e0da, or K\u0101l\u0101ntaka, or Yama.\n162:2 Cand\u0101--bold, daring, brave, courageous.\n162:3 T\u0101rin\u012b, for She delivers from calamity.\n162:4 Varavarnin\u012b (N.), not \"beautiful coloured,\" as it has been translated.\n162:5 K\u0101ty\u0101yan\u012b.\n162:6 Kar\u0101l\u012b = krure or cruel (to demons and other ill-doers). Kar\u0101lavadan\u0101 (wide-opened mouth) is an epithet of K\u0101l\u012b. \"Gaping-mouthed, terrible, four-armed, with dishevelled hair\"--Kar\u0101lavadan\u0101m ghor\u0101m, chatur-bhuj\u0101m, as the K\u0101l\u012b dhy\u0101na runs.\n162:7 Vijaya--that is, particular (vi\u015bis\u1e6d.a) victory (N.).\n162:8 Jay\u0101. Jay\u0101 and Vijay\u0101 are also the names of two female attendants (Sakh\u012b) of Durg\u0101.\n162:9 Gopendra or K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a. In the Harivam\u015ba and Ca\u1e47\u1e0d\u012b it is said that with the view of defeating the designs of Kamsa in regard to the destruction of Devak\u012b's offspring, Dev\u012b will be born as the ninth child of Ya\u015bod\u0101 in the same night as K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a was born as the eight child of Devak\u012b, when K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a would be carried to Ya\u015bod\u0101 and She to Devak\u012b.\n162:10 Jye\u1e63tha--\u015bre\u1e63th\u0101--superior to or best of all.\n162:11 In whose house K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a was reared.\n162:12 The Asura of that name (see Ca\u1e47\u1e0d\u012b).\n163:1 A name of the Dev\u012b, as born in the race of the sage Ku\u015bika.\n163:2 Kokamukhe--when in battle with Raktab\u012bja.\n163:3 See Hymn to Annap\u016br\u1e47a, post.\n163:4 Sh\u0101kambar\u012b. Sh\u014dka is a vegetable food given by Dev\u012b at the time of famine (Ca\u1e47\u1e0d\u012b).\n163:5 Svet\u0101 (N.), not white, as it has been translated.\n163:6 K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47\u0101 (N.), not black, as it has been translated.\n163:7 A Daitya brother of Madhu (Ca\u1e47\u1e0d\u012b).\n163:8 Vir\u016bp\u0101k\u1e63\u012b (see p. 155, note 5).\n163:9 Dh\u016bmr\u0101k\u1e63\u012b (N.) says grey and green, like those of a cat.\n163:10 Here Upani\u1e63ads.\n163:11 J\u0101tavedas\u012b. Jataveda is a name of Agni (Fire).\n163:12 Chaityeshu. Ordinarily this term is applied to the Buddhist shrine, of which it is commonly said: \"One should not enter a Jaina's temple or Buddhist chaitya, even if pursued by an elephant\" (Hastin\u0101 t\u0101dyam\u0101nopi na gachchet jaina-mandiram also dhaitya mandiram.) Here the term means devat\u0101laya.\n163:13 A Pur\u0101\u1e47ic island by that name, not as it has been translated; \"Who dwellest continually near to mountain precipices and sepulchres.\"\n164:1 \"The great sleep of embodied beings,\" according to the last translator: But Mah\u0101nidr\u0101 (great sleep) is here mukti (liberation), which is the result of the Brahmavidy\u0101, spoken of in the preceding line.\n164:2 K\u0101rtikeya. By this it is meant that She is sarvadevat\u0101r\u016bp\u0101, in the form of all Devas, of whom Skanda is selected as a type (N.).\n164:3 See p. 120, note 5; p. 98, note 5.\n164:4 K\u0101nt\u0101rav\u0101sin\u012b (N.).\n164:5 Mantra used with homa, but here it means that all ritual acts are her embodiment (Sarvakarmar\u016bp\u0101).\n164:6 Mantra used in pit\u1e5bkriy\u0101 (see last note).\n164:7 Kal\u0101 is a division of time--one minute forty-eight seconds, and k\u0101\u1e63\u1e6d\u1e25a is one-thirtieth of that.\n164:8 Dev\u012b of speech and learning.\n164:9 She is sarvav\u0101ng-m\u0101y\u0101-r\u016bpa (N.).\n164:10 End of the Vedas or Upani\u1e63ad.\n164:11 The nether world.\n165:1 Jambhane = tandr\u0101 (N.), not \"destroyer\" as it has been translated.\n165:2 Mohin\u012b = Nidr\u0101 (N.).\n165:3 M\u0101y\u0101 = adbhutapradar\u015ban\u0101m (N.).\n165:4 Hr\u012b = lajj\u0101 representative of, and including all other actions of mind (N.).\n165:5 \u015ar\u012b, or prosperity, and other attributes of Lak\u1e63m\u012b.\n165:6 Sandhy\u0101. the intervening period when night is going and morn coming. and vice versa, applied here to similar junction times in the creation and dissolution of the world (N.).\n165:7 S\u0101vitri. She who, by the lustre of S\u016brya, reveals (N.).\n165:8 Because, as a mother, She supports the world and all beings therein.\n165:9 Ai\u015bvarya. The supreme faculties of omnipresence, omnipotence, etc.\n165:10 Mahe\u015bvara. She is the greatest wealth of Brahman.\n165:11 Sankya or Sam\u0101dhi, where light appears and the \u0101tman is known (N).\n165:12 Siddhas here mean those who are liberated whilst yet living (j\u012bvanmukta), and C\u0101ranas those who are siddhas from their birth.","title":"Hymns to the Goddess: From Mah\u0101bh\u0101rata: Durg\u0101, from the Mah\u0101bh\u0101rata","type":"page"}