Durgā Saptaśatī, Chapter 1: Madhukaiṭabhavadhaḥ
One hundred and four mantras. A king who has lost his kingdom and a merchant turned out by his own family come together at one hermitage, and their question sets the whole Saptashati in motion. This page first gives the viniyoga of the first charitra and the meditation verse on Mahakali. After that every mantra is given in its own card with its number. Where the meaning page for a mantra is ready, tapping its card opens that page.
Viniyogaḥ
asya śrīprathamacaritrasya brahmā ṛṣiḥ | mahākālī devatā | gāyatrī chandaḥ | nandā śaktiḥ | raktadantikā bījam | agnistattvam | ṛgvedaḥ svarūpam | śrīmahākālīprītyarthaṃ prathamacaritrajape viniyogaḥ |
This viniyoga, a declaration of purpose said before recitation, recalls that the seer of the first charitra is Brahma, its metre Gayatri, its deity Mahakali, its shakti Nanda, its seed Raktadantika, its element Agni and its form the Rigveda, and states that the recitation is offered for the pleasure of Mahakali.
Dhyānam
oṃ khaḍgaṃ cakragadeṣucāpaparighāñchūlaṃ bhuśuṇḍīṃ śiraḥ
śaṅkhaṃ sandadhatīṃ karaistrinayanāṃ sarvāṅgabhūṣāvṛtām |
nīlāśmadyutimāsyapādadaśakāṃ seve mahākālikāṃ
yāmastautsvapite harau kamalajo hantuṃ madhuṃ kaiṭabham ||
This meditation verse pictures Mahakali with ten faces, ten feet and three eyes, shining like a blue gem, holding in her hands a sword, a discus, a mace, arrows, a bow, a parigha or iron club, a spear, a bhushundi or missile weapon, a severed head and a conch, and says that she is the one whom Brahma praised, while Vishnu slept, so that Madhu and Kaitabha might be slain.
oṃ namaścaṇḍikāyai ||
niśāmaya tadutpattiṃ vistarādgadato mama || 2 ||Meaning of verse 1.1 and 1.2 →3mahāmāyānubhāvena yathā manvantarādhipaḥ |
sa babhūva mahābhāgaḥ sāvarṇistanayo raveḥ || 3 ||Meaning of verse 1.3 →4svārociṣe’ntare pūrvaṃ caitravaṃśasamudbhavaḥ |
suratho nāma rājābhūtsamaste kṣitimaṇḍale || 4 ||Meaning of verse 1.4 →5tasya pālayataḥ samyak prajāḥ putrānivaurasān |
babhūvuḥ śatravo bhūpāḥ kolāvidhvaṃsinastadā || 5 ||Meaning of verse 1.5 →6tasya tairabhavad yuddhamatiprabaladaṇḍinaḥ |
nyūnairapi sa tairyuddhe kolāvidhvaṃsibhirjitaḥ || 6 ||Meaning of verse 1.6 →7tataḥ svapuramāyāto nijadeśādhipo’bhavat |
ākrāntaḥ sa mahābhāgastaistadā prabalāribhiḥ || 7 ||Meaning of verse 1.7 →8amātyairbalibhirduṣṭairdurbalasya durātmabhiḥ |
kośo balaṃ cāpahṛtaṃ tatrāpi svapure tataḥ || 8 ||Meaning of verse 1.8 →9tato mṛgayāvyājena hṛtasvāmyaḥ sa bhūpatiḥ |
ekākī hayamāruhya jagāma gahanaṃ vanam || 9 ||Meaning of verse 1.9 →10sa tatrāśramamadrākṣīddvijavaryasya medhasaḥ |
praśāntaśvāpadākīrṇaṃ muniśiṣyopaśobhitam || 10 ||Meaning of verse 1.10 →11tasthau kañcitsa kālaṃ ca muninā tena satkṛtaḥ |
itaścetaśca vicaraṃstasmin munivarāśrame || 11 ||Meaning of verse 1.11 →
matpūrvaiḥ pālitaṃ pūrvaṃ mayā hīnaṃ puraṃ hi tat || 12 ||
na jāne sa pradhāno me śūro hastī sadāmadaḥ || 13 ||
ye mamānugatā nityaṃ prasādadhanabhojanaiḥ || 14 ||
asamyagvyayaśīlaistaiḥ kurvadbhiḥ satataṃ vyayam || 15 ||
etaccānyacca satataṃ cintayāmāsa pārthivaḥ || 16 ||
sa pṛṣṭastena kastvaṃ bho hetuścāgamane’tra kaḥ || 17 ||
ityākarṇya vacastasya bhūpateḥ praṇayoditam || 18 ||
vihīnaśca dhanairdāraiḥ putrairādāya me dhanam || 22 ||
so’haṃ na vedmi putrāṇāṃ kuśalākuśalātmikām || 23 ||
kiṃ nu teṣāṃ gṛhe kṣemamakṣemaṃ kiṃ nu sāmpratam || 24 ||
yaiḥ santyajya pitṛsnehaṃ dhanalubdhairnirākṛtaḥ || 31 ||
kimetannābhijānāmi jānannapi mahāmate || 32 ||
teṣāṃ kṛte me niḥśvāso daurmanasyaṃ ca jāyate || 33 ||
kṛtvā tu tau yathānyāyaṃ yathārhaṃ tena saṃvidam || 37 ||
mamatvaṃ gatarājyasya rājyāṅgeṣvakhileṣvapi || 41 ||
ayaṃ ca nikṛtaḥ putrairdārairbhṛtyaistathojjhitaḥ || 42 ||
evameṣa tathāhaṃ ca dvāvapyatyantaduḥkhitau || 43 ||
tatkimetanmahābhāga yanmoho jñāninorapi || 44 ||
divāndhāḥ prāṇinaḥ kecidrātrāvandhāstathāpare || 48 ||
jñānino manujāḥ satyaṃ kiṃ tu te na hi kevalam || 49 ||
jñānaṃ ca tanmanuṣyāṇāṃ yatteṣāṃ mṛgapakṣiṇām || 50 ||
jñāne’pi sati paśyaitān pataṅgāñchāvacañcuṣu || 51 ||
mānuṣā manujavyāghra sābhilāṣāḥ sutān prati || 52 ||
tathāpi mamatāvarte mohagarte nipātitāḥ || 53 ||
tannātra vismayaḥ kāryo yoganidrā jagatpateḥ || 54 ||
jñānināmapi cetāṃsi devī bhagavatī hi sā || 55 ||
tayā visṛjyate viśvaṃ jagadetaccarācaram || 56 ||
sā vidyā paramā mukterhetubhūtā sanātanī || 57 ||
yatprabhāvā ca sā devī yatsvarūpā yadudbhavā || 61 ||
devānāṃ kāryasiddhyarthamāvirbhavati sā yadā || 65 ||
yoganidrāṃ yadā viṣṇurjagatyekārṇavīkṛte || 66 ||
tadā dvāvasurau ghorau vikhyātau madhukaiṭabhau || 67 ||
sa nābhikamale viṣṇoḥ sthito brahmā prajāpatiḥ || 68 ||
tuṣṭāva yoganidrāṃ tāmekāgrahṛdayaḥ sthitaḥ || 69 ||
viśveśvarīṃ jagaddhātrīṃ sthitisaṃhārakāriṇīm || 70 ||
ardhamātrā sthitā nityā yānuccāryāviśeṣataḥ || 74 ||
tvayaitaddhāryate viśvaṃ tvayaitat sṛjyate jagat || 75 ||
visṛṣṭau sṛṣṭirūpā tvaṃ sthitirūpā ca pālane || 76 ||
mahāvidyā mahāmāyā mahāmedhā mahāsmṛtiḥ || 77 ||
prakṛtistvaṃ ca sarvasya guṇatrayavibhāvinī || 78 ||
tvaṃ śrīstvamīśvarī tvaṃ hrīstvaṃ buddhirbodhalakṣaṇā || 79 ||
khaḍginī śūlinī ghorā gadinī cakriṇī tathā || 80 ||
saumyā saumyatarāśeṣasaumyebhyastvatisundarī || 81 ||
yacca kiñcitkvacidvastu sadasadvākhilātmike || 82 ||
yayā tvayā jagatsraṣṭā jagatpātyatti yo jagat || 83 ||
viṣṇuḥ śarīragrahaṇamahamīśāna eva ca || 84 ||
sā tvamitthaṃ prabhāvaiḥ svairudārairdevi saṃstutā || 85 ||
prabodhaṃ ca jagatsvāmī nīyatāmacyuto laghu || 86 ||
netrāsyanāsikābāhuhṛdayebhyastathorasaḥ || 90 ||
uttasthau ca jagannāthastayā mukto janārdanaḥ || 91 ||
madhukaiṭabhau durātmānāvativīryaparākramau || 92 ||
samutthāya tatastābhyāṃ yuyudhe bhagavān hariḥ || 93 ||
tāvapyatibalonmattau mahāmāyāvimohitau || 94 ||
āvāṃ jahi na yatrorvī salilena pariplutā || 101 ||
kṛtvā cakreṇa vai chinne jaghane śirasī tayoḥ || 103 ||
prabhāvamasyā devyāstu bhūyaḥ śṛṇu vadāmi te || 104 ||
|| svasti śrīmārkaṇḍeyapurāṇe sāvarṇike manvantare devīmāhātmye madhukaiṭabhavadho nāma prathamo’dhyāyaḥ ||
About the slaying of Madhu and Kaitabha
The chapter is named after the slaying of Madhu and Kaitabha, yet more than its first half is the story of the distress of two ordinary men. Markandeya begins to tell Kraushtuki the background of the eighth Manu, Savarni. That Savarni was King Suratha in an earlier birth. In answer to the question put by him and by a merchant named Samadhi, the sage Medhas tells the first story of Mahamaya.
The course of the chapter
- Mantras 1 to 16: Markandeya begins the story. Suratha is defeated by his enemies, and his own ministers seize his treasury and his army. Going into the forest on the pretext of a hunt, he stays at the hermitage of the sage Medhas, yet his thoughts keep returning to his city, his state elephant, his servants and his treasury.
- Mantras 17 to 34: There he meets a merchant named Samadhi. His wife and sons, greedy for wealth, have turned him out of his home, yet his mind still worries about their welfare.
- Mantras 35 to 45: The two go to the sage and ask why the mind clings to the very people who have abandoned them.
- Mantras 46 to 58: The sage says that animals and birds too have knowledge of the world of the senses, yet out of attachment they feed grain to their young. Mahamaya forcibly draws even the minds of the wise into delusion, he says, and she is the cause of both bondage and liberation.
- Mantras 59 to 72: The king asks who this Mahamaya is. The sage says she is eternal, yet appears for the work of the gods. At the end of an aeon, while Vishnu lies in yogic sleep, Madhu and Kaitabha, born from the wax of his ear, set out to kill Brahma.
- Mantras 73 to 87: Brahma praises Yoganidra so that Vishnu may be woken. This is the hymn that calls her svaha, svadha and the power of creation, preservation and dissolution.
- Mantras 88 to 104: The Goddess leaves Vishnu’s body and Vishnu wakes. After a long fight the demons, deluded by maya, offer Vishnu a boon. Vishnu asks for the boon that both of them die at his hands. When they ask to be killed where there is no water, he places them on his thigh and cuts off their heads with his discus.
Why do even those who know stay attached?
The question of the king and the merchant is simple. They know very well who abandoned them and why. Still the mind goes back to those people again and again. Why this attachment, when the knowledge is there? That is their confusion. The king even calls this state, his own and the merchant’s, the bewilderment of those blind to discernment.
The sage’s answer does not blame them. Mahamaya draws even the minds of the wise, he says. He also says that the same power, when pleased, grants the boon of liberation. All the remaining stories of the Saptashati unfold as the answer to the king’s question: who is this Mahamaya?
About this page
The text and the numbering of the mantras follow the Gita Press edition. This chapter has fourteen uvacha lines, twenty four half verses and sixty six full verses, one hundred and four mantras in all. In the cards on this page each one carries its own number.
On the meaning pages alone, each uvacha line is shown on the page of the verse it introduces. For example, the first mantra, Markandeya uvacha, is on the page for the second mantra. For now the meaning pages for the first ten verses (mantras 1 to 11) are ready. The rest are being added one by one.
Sources: several.
ಪಾಠದಲ್ಲಿ ತಪ್ಪೋ ಬೇರೆ ಪಾಠಾಂತರವೋ ಕಂಡಿತೇ? ನಮಗೆ ತಿಳಿಸಿ.
Noticed a mistake or a different reading? Tell us.
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