Thus shall I pray to Thee, O Tripura,
To attain the fruit of my desires,
In this hymn by which men attain that Laksmi,
Who is worshipped by the Devas.

2

Origin of the world Thou art,
Yet hast Thou Thyself no origin,
Though with hundreds of hymns.
Even Brahma, Visnu, and Mahesvara cannot know Thee.
Therefore we worship Thy breasts, Mother of all Sastra,
Shining with fresh saffron.

3

O Tripura, we adore Thee,
Whose body shines with the splendour of a thousand risen suns,
Holding with two of Thy hands a book and rosary of rudraksa beads,
And with two others making the gestures
Which grant boons and dispel fear.
With three lotus eyes is Thy lotus face adorned.
Beauteous is Thy neck with its necklace of large pearls.

4

O Mother, how can the ignorant, whose minds are restless with doubt and dispute,
Know Thy form ravishing with its vermillion,
Stooping with the weight of Thy breasts,
Accessible only by merit,
Acquired in previous birth?

5

O Bhavani, the munis describe Thee in physical form;
The Sruti speaks of Thee in subtle form;
Others, again, as the root of worlds.
But we think of Thee
As the untraversable ocean of mercy, and nothing else.

6

Worshippers contemplate Thee in their heart
As three-eyed, adorned with the crescent moon,
White as the autumnal moon,
Whose substance is the fifty letters,
Holding in Thy hands a book, a rosary, a jar of nectar, and making the vyakhya mudra.

7

O Tripura, Thou art Sambhu united with Parvati.
Thou art now Visnu embraced by Kamala ,
And now Brahma born of the lotus.
Thou art again the presiding Devi of speech,
And yet again art the energy of all these.

8

I, having taken refuge with the four
Bhavas, Para, and others born of the vagbhave (bija),
Shall never in my heart forget Thee, the supreme Devata,
Whose substance is existence and intelligence,
And Who expresseth by Thy throat and other organ
The bhava appearing in the form of letters.

9

The blessed, having conquered the six enemies ,
And drawing in their breath,
With steady mind fix their gaze on the tip of their nostrils,
And contemplate in their head Thy moon-crested form ,
Resplendent as the newly risen sun.

10

The Vedas proclaim that Thou createth the world,
Having assumed the other half of the body of the enemy of Kama .
Verily is it true, O Daughter of the mountain and the only World-mother,
That had this not been so,
the multitude of worlds would naver have been.

11

In company with the wives of the Kinnaras ,
The Siddha women , Whose eyes are reddened by wine
Having worshipped thee with the flowers of celestial trees
In Thy pitha in the caverns of the golden mountain,
Sing thy praises.

12

I worship in my heart the Devi whose body is moist with nectar,
Beauteous as the splendour of lightning,
Who, going from Her abode to that of Siva,
Opens the lotuses on the beautiful way of the susumna .

13

O Tripura, I take refuge at Thy lotus feet,
Worshipped by Brahma, Visnu, and Mahesvara;
The abode of bliss, the source of the Vedas,
The origin of all prosperity;
Thou Whose body is Intelligence itself.

14

I shall never forget Her Who is the giver of happiness;
She it is, O Mother, Who, in the form of the Moon,
Creates the world full of sounds and their meanings,
And again, by Her power in the form of the Sun,
She it is Who maintains the world. And she, again, it is, Who, in the form of Fire, destroys the whole universe at the end of the ages .

15

Men worship Thee under various names
As Narayana, as She Who saves from the ocean of Hell;
As Gauri; as the allayer of grief; as Sarasvati,
And as the three-eyed giver of knowledge.

16

O Mother of the world,
such as worship Thee with twelve verses of this hymn
attain to Thee,
and gain all powers of speech
and the supreme abode.

Mahesvara -- a title of Siva.

Sastra -- rule, treatise, or law books (definition from Stutley)

rudrasa -- Rudra-eyed. Berries from the tree or shrub (Elaeocarpus ganitrus) used to make Saiva rosaries. The berries are rought and have five divisions, denoting Siva's five faces... The berries are said to be his terearts when on one occasion he wept with rage. Stuteley HDH 254.

gestures -- see mudras.

munis -- sages

physical form -- There are three forms of the Devi, the gross or physical, with hands, feet, etc; the subtle (suksma), consisting of mantra, and the supreme (para), which is the real or own (svarupa). The form of the Devi has both prkasa and vimarsa aspects that is real and secondary or manifested. Thus the Vamakesvara Tantra says: "The Devi Tripura is Her real form. She who is of a red colour is the manifested one."

Sruti -- Oral transmission of the Vedas. Stutley HDH

fifty letters -- Of the alphabet or matrka (panchasadaksaramayim). These letters stand for the vrtti (functions and qualities of being). The Devi is thus matrkamayi, or composed of matrka.