Bhakti Arohan
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Durga Saptashati

The Devi Mahatmya of the Markandeya Purana: 700 mantras in 13 chapters telling how the Goddess slew Madhu-Kaitabha, Mahishasura and Shumbha-Nishumbha. It is the central text of Navaratri.

What the Durga Saptashati is

The Durga Saptashati, “the seven hundred (verses) of Durga”, is also called the Devi Mahatmya (“the glory of the Goddess”) and the Chandi Path. It is not a separate book in origin but a section of the Markandeya Purana, chapters 81–93 in commonly printed editions. Scholars generally place its composition around the 5th–6th century CE. It is the earliest surviving text to present the Goddess not as the consort of a god but as the supreme reality herself, the power (shakti) behind creation, preservation and dissolution.

The frame story

The sage Markandeya tells the story to his disciple Kraushtuki. Within it, King Suratha has lost his kingdom to enemies and his treasury to his own ministers, and wanders into the forest hermitage of the sage Medhas. There he meets Samadhi, a merchant thrown out by his greedy wife and sons. Both men know their attachment is pointless, yet neither can let go of it, and they ask the sage why. His answer is Mahamaya, the Goddess whose power deludes even the wise. He then tells them three stories of how she has appeared. At the end (chapter 13) the two worship her on a river bank for three years. The king asks for his kingdom and gets it, along with a future birth as Savarni, the eighth Manu. The merchant asks for the knowledge that ends the sense of “I” and “mine”, and receives it.

The three charitras

The thirteen chapters are grouped into three charitras (episodes), each with its own presiding form of the Goddess:

  • Prathama charitra (chapter 1), presided over by Mahakali: Vishnu lies in yogic sleep at the end of an age, and Brahma praises the Goddess as Yoganidra so that she releases him to kill the demons Madhu and Kaitabha.
  • Madhyama charitra (chapters 2–4), presided over by Mahalakshmi: the combined radiance of all the gods becomes the Devi, who destroys the army of Mahishasura and then the buffalo-demon himself. The gods praise her in the Shakradi Stuti.
  • Uttama charitra (chapters 5–13), presided over by Mahasaraswati: the Devi emerges from Parvati's body as Kaushiki and defeats the brothers Shumbha and Nishumbha and their generals Dhumralochana, Chanda, Munda and Raktabija. Along the way come Kali, the seven Mothers (Matrikas), the famous “Ya Devi sarvabhuteshu” hymn and the Narayani Stuti.

What it teaches

Beneath the battle stories is one idea, which the Devi states outright to Shumbha in chapter 10: “I alone exist here in the world; who else is there besides me?” Kali, the Mothers and every other goddess in the text are her own powers, and they merge back into her. The same Goddess binds the world through delusion and frees it through her grace. She is Lakshmi in good times and misfortune in bad ones. She is also present, the text says, in every woman (11.6). The four great hymns (in chapters 1, 4, 5 and 11) are among the most widely recited Sanskrit prayers in India.

When and how it is recited

The text itself names the great autumn worship (12.12), the festival kept today as Sharad Navaratri and Durga Puja. It also names the eighth, ninth and fourteenth lunar days (12.4). A full recitation (path) of all 700 mantras is traditionally surrounded by preparatory texts (Kavach, Argala, Kilak) and closing ones (Devi Sukta, the three Rahasyas, Kshama Prarthana). Those are not included here. The Devi's promise in chapter 12 is that even hearing the text once, or remembering it in a crisis, brings her protection.

About this edition

The Sanskrit here follows the Gita Press edition, checked against a second published text. Where the two differ, the Gita Press reading is kept, and its noted variant readings (pathantara) are mentioned in the commentary. Numbering follows the traditional 700-mantra count, in which speaker lines such as “the sage said” count as mantras of their own. In chapter 5, each “Ya Devi” stanza counts as three mantras, so those stanzas are shown as ranges (for example 5.14–16). Chapter names follow the Gita Press colophons.

Chapter 1: Madhu-Kaitabha Vadha

King Suratha and the merchant Samadhi meet at the sage Medhas's hermitage and learn of Mahamaya. Brahma praises her as Yoganidra, Vishnu wakes, and Madhu and Kaitabha are slain.

Verse 1Verse 2Verse 3Verse 4Verse 5Verse 6Verse 7Verse 8Verse 9Verse 10Verse 11Verse 12Verse 13Verse 14Verse 15Verse 16Verse 17Verse 18Verse 19Verse 20Verse 21Verse 22Verse 23Verse 24Verse 25Verse 26Verse 27Verse 28Verse 29Verse 30Verse 31Verse 32Verse 33Verse 34Verse 35Verse 36Verse 37Verse 38Verse 39Verse 40Verse 41Verse 42Verse 43Verse 44Verse 45Verse 46Verse 47Verse 48Verse 49Verse 50Verse 51Verse 52Verse 53Verse 54Verse 55Verse 56Verse 57Verse 58Verse 59Verse 60Verse 61Verse 62Verse 63Verse 64Verse 65Verse 66Verse 67Verse 68Verse 69Verse 70Verse 71Verse 72Verse 73Verse 74Verse 75Verse 76Verse 77Verse 78Verse 79Verse 80Verse 81Verse 82Verse 83Verse 84Verse 85Verse 86Verse 87Verse 88Verse 89Verse 90Verse 91Verse 92Verse 93Verse 94Verse 95Verse 96Verse 97Verse 98Verse 99Verse 100Verse 101Verse 102Verse 103Verse 104

Chapter 2: Mahishasura Sainya Vadha

The radiance of all the gods combines into the Devi, each god gives her a weapon, and she destroys the army of Mahishasura.

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Chapter 3: Mahishasura Vadha

The Devi kills Mahishasura's generals, beginning with Chikshura and Chamara, and then Mahisha himself as he changes from buffalo to lion to man to elephant and back to buffalo.

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Chapter 4: Shakradi Stuti

Indra and the gods praise the victorious Devi, and she promises to come whenever they remember her in distress.

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Chapter 5: Devi's Dialogue with the Messenger

Oppressed by Shumbha and Nishumbha, the gods sing the "Ya Devi" hymn. Ambika emerges from Parvati as Kaushiki, and she answers Shumbha's proposal: she will marry only the one who defeats her in battle.

Verse 1Verse 2Verse 3Verse 4Verse 5Verse 6Verse 7Verse 8Verse 9Verse 10Verse 11Verse 12Verse 13Verse 14–16Verse 17–19Verse 20–22Verse 23–25Verse 26–28Verse 29–31Verse 32–34Verse 35–37Verse 38–40Verse 41–43Verse 44–46Verse 47–49Verse 50–52Verse 53–55Verse 56–58Verse 59–61Verse 62–64Verse 65–67Verse 68–70Verse 71–73Verse 74–76Verse 77Verse 78–80Verse 81Verse 82Verse 83Verse 84Verse 85Verse 86Verse 87Verse 88Verse 89Verse 90Verse 91Verse 92Verse 93Verse 94Verse 95Verse 96Verse 97Verse 98Verse 99Verse 100Verse 101Verse 102Verse 103Verse 104Verse 105Verse 106Verse 107Verse 108Verse 109Verse 110Verse 111Verse 112Verse 113Verse 114Verse 115Verse 116Verse 117Verse 118Verse 119Verse 120Verse 121Verse 122Verse 123Verse 124Verse 125Verse 126Verse 127Verse 128Verse 129

Chapter 6: Dhumralochana Vadha

Shumbha sends his general Dhumralochana to drag the Devi to him by the hair. She burns him to ash with a single "hum", and her lion destroys his army.

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Chapter 7: Chanda-Munda Vadha

Kali springs from the Devi's frowning brow, destroys the army of Chanda and Munda and beheads them both, and the Devi names her Chamunda.

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Chapter 8: Raktabija Vadha

The powers of the gods come forth as the seven Mothers, the Devi sends Shiva as her messenger, and Kali drinks the blood of Raktabija so that no new demons can spring from it.

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Chapter 9: Nishumbha Vadha

Shumbha and Nishumbha attack together. The Devi fells them in turn, and Nishumbha is slain, together with the second figure that springs from his heart.

Verse 1Verse 2Verse 3Verse 4Verse 5Verse 6Verse 7Verse 8Verse 9Verse 10Verse 11Verse 12Verse 13Verse 14Verse 15Verse 16Verse 17Verse 18Verse 19Verse 20Verse 21Verse 22Verse 23Verse 24Verse 25Verse 26Verse 27Verse 28Verse 29Verse 30Verse 31Verse 32Verse 33Verse 34Verse 35Verse 36Verse 37Verse 38Verse 39Verse 40Verse 41

Chapter 10: Shumbha Vadha

Taunted for relying on others, the Devi draws all the goddesses back into herself ("I alone exist here"), fights Shumbha alone, even in the sky, and slays him. The world is at peace.

Verse 1Verse 2Verse 3Verse 4Verse 5Verse 6Verse 7Verse 8Verse 9Verse 10Verse 11Verse 12Verse 13Verse 14Verse 15Verse 16Verse 17Verse 18Verse 19Verse 20Verse 21Verse 22Verse 23Verse 24Verse 25Verse 26Verse 27Verse 28Verse 29Verse 30Verse 31Verse 32

Chapter 11: Devyah Stuti (Narayani Stuti)

The gods praise the Devi with the refrain "Narayani namo'stu te", and she foretells her future appearances as Vindhyavasini, Raktadantika, Shakambhari, Durga, Bhima and Bhramari.

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Chapter 12: Phala Stuti

The Devi describes the fruits of reciting and hearing her story, especially at the great autumn worship, and then vanishes. The sage explains that she appears again and again to protect the world.

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Chapter 13: Boons to Suratha and the Merchant

Suratha and Samadhi worship the Devi on a river bank for three years. She grants the king his kingdom and a future birth as the Manu Savarni, and the merchant liberating knowledge.

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