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

Her Lion and Her Arms

Mahishasura Mardini Stotram 4

अयि शतखण्डविखण्डितरुण्डवितुण्डितशुण्डगजाधिपते रिपुगजगण्डविदारणचण्डपराक्रमशुण्डमृगाधिपते । निजभुजदण्डनिपातितखण्डविपातितमुण्डभटाधिपते जय जय हे महिषासुरमर्दिनि रम्यकपर्दिनि शैलसुते

Meaning · English

You who cut down the enemy's war elephants, whose fierce lion breaks their charge, whose own arms fell their captains: victory, slayer of Mahisha, lovely-haired daughter of the mountain.

Three lines, three passes across a battlefield. First the war elephants, the heaviest weapon an old army had, are cut down piece by piece. Then her lion, called fierce and bold, tears open the temples of the enemy's tuskers. Then the captains of the demon army fall to her own arms, which the hymn calls rods or staffs. Each line closes on a chief: the lead elephant, the king of beasts, the commander of soldiers. The chorus then hails her again as the buffalo demon's crusher, with lovely braided hair.

Think of a chess game where one side loses its rooks, then its knights, then the pieces guarding its king, while the other player has barely shifted in her chair. The strongest pieces go first. The hymn lines up the demon army's strongest pieces, its elephants and its captains, to show that none of them slowed her down.

अर्थ · हिन्दी

In this book

• Before: World's Mother, My Mother · Mahishasura Mardini Stotram 3
• Next: Shiva as Her Messenger · Mahishasura Mardini Stotram 5
• All of Stotras · Ask Krishna about it

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