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

World's Mother, My Mother

Mahishasura Mardini Stotram 3

अयि जगदम्ब मदम्ब कदम्बवनप्रियवासिनि हासरते शिखरिशिरोमणि तुङ्गहिमालयशृङ्गनिजालयमध्यगते । मधुमधुरे मधुकैटभगञ्जिनि कैटभभञ्जिनि रासरते जय जय हे महिषासुरमर्दिनि रम्यकपर्दिनि शैलसुते

Meaning · English

Mother of the world and my mother, laughing in the kadamba grove, at home on the high Himalaya, honey-sweet, breaker of Madhu and Kaitabha, delighting in the rasa dance. Victory to you, slayer of Mahisha.

She is called mother of the whole world and, in the same breath, my mother. The large title and the personal one sit side by side. She is given real places: a grove of kadamba trees she loves, and her own house among the peaks of the Himalaya, the crest-jewel of mountains. She laughs and delights in the rasa dance. She is sweet as honey. Then, without any change of tone, she is the one who broke the demons Madhu and Kaitabha. The sweetness and the strength belong to the same person.

Picture a woman at a crowded village fair. Every child there calls her auntie. One small boy holds her hand and calls her mother. Both names are true at once. The singer stands where that boy stands: she belongs to everyone, and he still claims her as his own.

अर्थ · हिन्दी

In this book

• Before: Showering Gifts, Drying Up Arrogance · Mahishasura Mardini Stotram 2
• Next: Her Lion and Her Arms · Mahishasura Mardini Stotram 4
• All of Stotras · Ask Krishna about it

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