The verse and its meaning · Stotras · Stotras — Mahishasura Mardini Stotram

Showering Gifts, Drying Up Arrogance

Mahishasura Mardini Stotram 2

सुरवरवर्षिणि दुर्धरधर्षिणि दुर्मुखमर्षिणि हर्षरते त्रिभुवनपोषिणि शंकरतोषिणि किल्बिषमोषिणि घोषरते । दनुजनिरोषिणि दितिसुतरोषिणि दुर्मदशोषिणि सिन्धुसुते जय जय हे महिषासुरमर्दिनि रम्यकपर्दिनि शैलसुते

Meaning · English

Giver of gifts to the gods, tamer of the untamable, nourisher of three worlds, thief of wrongs, who dries up arrogance, ocean's daughter—victory, slayer of Mahisha, mountain's daughter.

Each name is a small portrait. She pours gifts on the gods and overpowers foes no one else can hold back. She puts up with the foul-mouthed and delights in joy and in the sound of chanting. She feeds all three worlds, pleases Shiva, and steals wrongdoing away the way a thief lifts goods. Her anger falls on the demon clans, and she dries up swollen pride. Calling her the ocean's daughter, a name of Lakshmi, folds gentle and fierce into one goddess.

Picture the midday sun over a village courtyard. The same heat ripens mangoes on the tree, warms the grain spread out on mats, and shrinks the muddy puddle by the gate to a cracked dry patch. Her gifts and her drying up of pride are like that: one heat, feeding what grows and shrinking what has swollen.

अर्थ · हिन्दी

In this book

• Before: Daughter of the Mountain · Mahishasura Mardini Stotram 1
• Next: World's Mother, My Mother · Mahishasura Mardini Stotram 3
• All of Stotras · Ask Krishna about it

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