परशुरामकृत-दुर्गास्तोत्रम्

About this stotra

From the Brahmavaivarta Purāṇa (Gaṇapati Khaṇḍa, Adhyāya 45), as Nārāyaṇa tells it to Nārada. Paraśurāma, a disciple of Śiva, praises Durgā as the wife of his guru. It is the episode in which, at the gates of Kailāsa, he struck Gaṇeśa with his axe and broke a tusk, making Him Ekadanta, and so angered Pārvatī.

His praise begins in Goloka, at the dawn of creation, where the supreme Devī emerges from the body of the all-complete Śrī Kṛṣṇa. As Rādhā, the Mūla-prakṛti, She becomes the source of the cosmic Virāṭ, and then takes five forms: Rādhā, Sāvitrī, Lakṣmī, Sarasvatī and Durgā. Every goddess and every wife of a god or sage is a portion of Her portion, and so is the light in the sun, the heat in fire, the coolness of water and the fragrance of earth. Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Śiva themselves praised Her in their need, against Madhu and Kaiṭabha and in the war with Tripura. He ends like a child before his mother: what mother is angered by the faults of her children?

Paraśurāma bows and weeps, and Durgā, pleased, blesses him: be immortal, victorious everywhere, devoted to Kṛṣṇa and to Śiva your guru. No one can harm one whose devotion to his chosen deity and guru is constant.

The phala-śruti calls it a stotra-rāja of the Kāṇva śākhā. Read at the time of pūjā, at the start of a journey or in the morning, it grants one’s wish: a son, a daughter, learning or children; a lost kingdom or lost wealth regained; the anger of guru, god, king or kin turned to favour; release from robbers, serpents, enemies, illness, prison and the deep waters. Above all it is for women longing for children: listening to it for a year, after worshipping Durgā, brings a long-lived, wise son, and listening for six months brings good fortune.