Original text
ॐ कात्यायनाय विद्महे कन्यकुमारि धीमहि । तन्नो दुर्गिः प्रचोदयात् ॥
Transliteration
Om Katyayanaya vidmahe Kanyakumari dhimahi Tanno Durgih prachodayat ||
The last Gayatri in the series
The Mahanarayana Upanishad, part of the Taittiriya Aranyaka of the Krishna Yajurveda, contains a run of Gayatri mantras to many deities, all built on the same three-line pattern: Rudra, Ganesha, Nandi, Kartikeya, Garuda, Brahma, Vishnu, Narasimha, the Sun and Agni. The series closes with this one, to Durga. That gives it something many popular "Durga Gayatri" versions lack: a place in the Veda itself.
What the words say
- Katyayanaya vidmahe: "may we know Katyayani." In the Devi Mahatmya tradition Katyayani is the form in which the gods' combined radiance became the Goddess, and she is worshipped as the sixth of the Navadurgas on the sixth day of Navratri.
- Kanyakumari dhimahi: "may we meditate on the Virgin Maiden." Kanyakumari is the ever-virgin form of the Goddess, worshipped at the southern tip of India and in every girl honoured at kanya puja.
- Tanno Durgih prachodayat: "may that Durga impel us."
The grammar is archaic, and it is worth knowing why it looks odd. Katyayanaya has a masculine-looking dative ending, Kanyakumari is in the vocative, and Durgih is an old Vedic form of Durga. The Upanishad's text has it this way, and Vedic reciters keep it. Two regularised versions are also widely used: Katyayanyai vidmahe Kanyakumaryai dhimahi, tanno Durga prachodayat, and a different popular Gayatri, Girijayai cha vidmahe Shivapriyayai cha dhimahi, tanno Durga prachodayat, "may we know the Mountain's daughter, meditate on Shiva's beloved". All are used devotionally. The one given here is the Vedic text.
A prayer for the right direction
Like every Gayatri, this is not a request for protection or wealth but for inspiration: know, meditate, and be moved. That makes it a quieter companion to Durga's more martial hymns, such as the Durga Kavach or the Saptashati. It asks the Goddess to turn the mind, which the Saptashati itself says she alone can do, since she "draws even the minds of the wise into delusion" and releases them again.
When and how to chant it
It is chanted 108 times on a rudraksha or red sandalwood mala, especially in both Navratris (and above all on the sixth day, Katyayani's), on Ashtami and Navami, on Fridays and Tuesdays, and before reading the Durga Saptashati. Unmarried women traditionally pray to Katyayani for a good husband. In the Bhagavata Purana the gopis of Vraja worship her through the month of Margashirsha for Krishna. So this Gayatri is also chanted with that hope. Light a ghee lamp, offer red flowers, and sit facing east or north.
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