श्रीदुर्गासप्तशती
Śrīdurgāsaptaśatī
The seven hundred verses of the Goddess
The Durgā Saptaśatī, also called the Devī Māhātmya or Caṇḍī Pāṭha, is chapters 81 to 93 of the Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa. Its seven hundred mantras, in thirteen chapters, tell how the Goddess slew Madhu and Kaiṭabha, Mahiṣāsura, and Śumbha and Niśumbha. It is recited all year, and above all in the nine nights of Navrātri.
पाठक्रमThe order of reading
पूर्वाङ्ग Before the chapters
- देव्याः कवचम्56 verses · with meaning Devi Kavach: The armour of the GoddessBrahmā tells Mārkaṇḍeya the most secret protection: the nine Durgās, from Śailaputrī to Siddhidātrī, and the Mothers and forms of the Goddess who guard each direction and each part of the body.
- अर्गलास्तोत्रम्25 verses · with meaning Argala Stotram: The boltTwenty-five verses to the Goddess, each praising her for a deed and ending with the same request: rūpaṃ dehi jayaṃ dehi yaśo dehi dviṣo jahi, ‘give beauty, give victory, give glory, destroy what is hostile’.
- कीलकस्तोत्रम्14 verses · with meaning Kilak Stotram: The pinFourteen verses on how Śiva ‘pinned’ the Saptaśatī so that it gives its fruit only to those who recite it in the right way, and how it is unpinned.
प्रथम चरित्र The first episode · महाकाली
मध्यम चरित्र The middle episode · महालक्ष्मी
- महिषासुरसैन्यवधः२ · 69 mantras · with meaning Chapter 2: The slaying of Mahiṣāsura’s armiesMahiṣāsura defeats the gods and takes Indra’s throne. The anger of the gods pours out as light, and from that gathered radiance the Goddess takes form. Each god gives her a weapon, and she and her lion destroy the armies of Mahiṣa.
- महिषासुरवधः३ · 44 mantras · with meaning Chapter 3: The slaying of MahiṣāsuraThe Goddess slays Mahiṣa’s generals, Cikṣura, Cāmara and the rest, and then Mahiṣāsura himself, who changes from buffalo to lion to man to elephant and back before she cuts him down.
- शक्रादिस्तुतिः४ · 42 mantras · with meaning Chapter 4: The praise by Indra and the gods · Shakradi StutiIndra and the gods praise the Goddess for her victory. She grants them a boon: whenever they remember her in distress, she will come.
उत्तर चरित्र The last episode · महासरस्वती
- देव्या दूतसंवादः५ · 129 mantras · with meaning Chapter 5: The Goddess and the messenger · Ya Devi SarvabhuteshuŚumbha and Niśumbha seize the three worlds. The gods go to the Himālaya and praise the Goddess with the hymn ‘yā devī sarvabhūteṣu’. From the body of Pārvatī comes Ambikā. Śumbha hears of her beauty and sends the messenger Sugrīva to win her; she answers that she will marry only one who defeats her in battle.
- धूम्रलोचनवधः६ · 24 mantras · with meaning Chapter 6: The slaying of DhūmralocanaŚumbha sends Dhūmralocana to bring the Goddess by force. She burns him to ashes with a single sound, and her lion destroys his army.
- चण्डमुण्डवधः७ · 27 mantras · with meaning Chapter 7: The slaying of Caṇḍa and MuṇḍaCaṇḍa and Muṇḍa come against the Goddess. From her brow, dark with anger, springs Kālī, who slays them both; the Goddess names her Cāmuṇḍā.
- रक्तबीजवधः८ · 63 mantras · with meaning Chapter 8: The slaying of RaktabījaThe powers of the gods take form as the Mothers and join the Goddess in battle. From every drop of Raktabīja’s blood that falls, a new demon rises, until Cāmuṇḍā drinks his blood and he is slain.
- निशुम्भवधः९ · 41 mantras · with meaning Chapter 9: The slaying of NiśumbhaKing Suratha asks to hear what followed. Śumbha and Niśumbha attack together, and the Goddess slays Niśumbha.
- शुम्भवधः१० · 32 mantras · with meaning Chapter 10: The slaying of ŚumbhaŚumbha taunts the Goddess for fighting with the strength of others. She draws all her forms back into herself, ‘I am alone in the world’, and in single combat slays him.
- देव्याः स्तुतिः११ · 55 mantras · with meaning Chapter 11: The gods’ hymn to Nārāyaṇī · Narayani Stuti, Sarva Mangala MangalyeThe gods praise the Goddess as Nārāyaṇī, ‘sarvamaṅgalamāṅgalye’. She grants them a boon and tells of the forms in which she will come again: Vindhyavāsinī, Raktadantikā, Śatākṣī and Śākambharī, Durgā, Bhīmā and Bhrāmarī.
- फलस्तुतिः१२ · 41 mantras · with meaning Chapter 12: The fruits of recitingThe Goddess tells what comes to those who recite and hear her deeds, on the eighth, ninth and fourteenth days and at the great autumn worship, and then vanishes before the gods.
- सुरथवैश्ययोर्वरप्रदानम्१३ · 29 mantras · with meaning Chapter 13: The boons to Suratha and the merchantMedhas ends his account. Suratha and Samādhi worship the Goddess for three years on a river bank. She appears and grants their wishes: to Suratha his kingdom, and in a later life to be the Manu Sāvarṇi; to Samādhi the knowledge that frees.
उत्तराङ्ग After the chapters
परिचयAbout the text
Before the thirteen chapters many read the Devī Kavaca, the Argalā Stotra and the Kīlaka, in that order, and after them the Kṣamā-prārthanā. The chapters fall into three episodes, each with its presiding form of the Goddess: the first, chapter 1, Mahākālī; the middle, chapters 2 to 4, Mahālakṣmī; the last, chapters 5 to 13, Mahāsarasvatī.
Fuller recitations add the Rātri Sūkta, the Devī Atharvaśīrṣa and the Navārṇa mantra before the chapters, and the Devī Sūkta and the three Rahasyas after them. These are not yet on Shlokpath. Every family follows its own order; the order here is the one printed by Gita Press.
The seven hundred are counted the traditional way: each ‘he said’ is a mantra of its own, some half-verses are counted singly, and in chapter 5 each ‘namas tasyai’ of the hymn ‘yā devī sarvabhūteṣu’ is counted once. The numbers on these pages are those of the Gita Press printing, so they match the pothī most homes use.
Every text has its meaning in Marathi, Hindi and English.
श्रवणListen
- Anuradha Paudwal · T-Series Bhakti SagarAll thirteen chapters
- Traditional pāṭha · Rudra Centre
- Prem Prakash DubeyWith the Kavaca, Argalā, Kīlaka, Siddha Kuñjikā and Kṣamā-prārthanā
Chosen from label and performer uploads. The player stays docked at the bottom while you read.
पाठशुद्धीHow the text was established
The base is the Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa on Sanskrit Wikisource, chapters 81 to 93. We compared every line with the Gita Press, Gorakhpur printing of the Śrīdurgāsaptaśatī, which is the text most homes recite, and with a second transcription of the recitation text. Where the Purāṇa edition and the Gita Press printing differ, we follow the printing: some 180 lines were corrected, most of them typing errors, a few of them true variants. Lines found only in some manuscripts of the Purāṇa, which the Gita Press gives in its footnotes, are left out. The Kavaca, Kīlaka and Kṣamā-prārthanā come from Wikisource, corrected against the same printing. The Argalā follows the Gita Press printing, since Wikisource carries a different, 27-verse version.
- Sanskrit Wikisource: मार्कण्डेयपुराणम्, अध्यायः ८१-८५
- The Gita Press printing of the Śrīdurgāsaptaśatī, scanned on the Internet Archive
- Wikipedia: Devi Mahatmya, on its place in the Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa, date and structure
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