Durga Saptashati

Author: www. Kamakotimandali.com

Sapua niraya
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There are various schemes of sampua in ca vidhi. Some are
sampuas for the entire hymn while some others are for each
individual verse of saptaat. The most common scheme is one
where the navkar mahmantra is recited 108 times at the
beginning and end of saptaat. Such use of sampua is generally
for sakma paka . Those reciting the hymn mainly for
tmalbha need not follow the sapukaraa scheme using
navra mantra.
There are four recognized ways of sapukaraa of saptaat
using navra mahmantra. They are:
1. Reciting 108 navra mantras at the beginning and end of the
entire saptaat hymn.
2. Reciting 108 navra mantras at the beginning and end of
each of the three charitras.
3. Reciting 108 navr mantras at the beginning and end of
each of the thirteen chapters of saptaat.

4. Reciting navra mantra at the beginning and end of every

loka of saptaat.
There are various prayogas which are detailed in tantras such as
ktyyan, vrh and mara, as also by authorities such as
nlakaha and ngojbha some of which are listed below.
sampua here means uttering the specific mantra before and after
every verse of saptaat for all the 700 verses. Let's take the
example of sampua with praava or Omkra:
OM + loka + OM
1. By sampua of sapraava vyhtitraya a hundred times, one
attains mantra siddhi (OM bh bhuva sva + loka + sva
bhuva bh OM)
2. By reciting sapraava vyhtitraya at the beginning of every
loka, one attains mantra siddhi.
3. By sampua of sapta vyhti (OM bh bhuva sva ma
jana mana tapa satya), one attains mantra siddhi.
4. By sampua of gyatr mantra along with sapta vyhti or
vyhtitraya, one attains immense merit.
5. By sampua of the mantra jtavedase from the durg skta,
one attains all desired fruits.

6. By sampua of atkara tryambaka mantra, one is protected

from death and disease. This mantra is formed by combining
gyatr, jtavedase and tryambaka mantras.
7. By sampua of the loka aragatadnrta paritra
paryae, one achieves success in all endeavors.
8. By sampua of the loka karotu s na ubhaheturvar, one
attains all desired fruits.
9. By sampua of the loka eva devy vara labdhv, one
attains all desired boons.
10. By sampua of the loka durge smt harati, one is protected
from dangers of all kind.
11. By sampua of the loka sarvbdhpraamana, one is
freed from afflictions of all kinds. One can also recite this loka
alone for the same purpose.
12. By reciting the loka ittha yad yad a lakh times, one is
freed from epidemics such as mahmr.
13. By reciting the loka tato vavre npo rjya a lakh times,
one gains back lost wealth and position.
14. By offering sadpa balidna reciting the loka, hinasti
daityatejsi, one is cured of blagraha.

15. By a combined recitation of the loka durge smt harasi

along with the k yadanti yacca drake, one is speedily freed
from all dangers and misery.
16. By sampua of the loka jnninmapi cetsi, one attains
the power of infatuation.
17. By sampua of the loka rognaen, one is freed from all
diseases.
17. By sampua of the loka ityuktv s tad dev, one is blessed
with knowledge.
18. The verse bhagavty kta sarva is very potent and
confers sarvasiddhi. It can be recited individually as a 112lettered mahmantra to accomplish all desires.
16. By sampua of the loka devi prapannrtihare prasda, one
is speedily liberated from dangers and misery of all kinds.
Performing the above prayogas in front of a lamp (durg
dpanamaskra) grants very fast results.

Kavacha, Argal and Klaka

Recitation of kavacha, argal and klaka is considered

mandatory as a part of saptaat krama. It is said that Rvaa
recited saptaat without the kavacha and eventually was slain
by r Rma . The Devas worshiped Mahmy for eons to seek
protection from a demon named arusura but did not attain
siddhi of saptaat due to their omission of not following the due
procedure. They were taught the tantra of saptaat by brahm
and subsequently earned the grace of parmb who assumed the
form of bhrmar akti to destroy arusura.
Argal was taught by mahviu, klaka by iva and kavacha by
brahm. Argal destroys sins, kavacha protects and klaka grants
siddhi. Hence it is said:
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Rules for Recitation

1. One should always recite the entire saptaat hymn. If unable

to do that, only the madhyama charitra can be recited.
2. One should not break the recitation in the middle of an
adhyya. If such a break occurs, the recitation should be
restarted from the beginning of that chapter.
3. One should recite with a calm demeanor without aga ce
such as shaking the head, hands etc.
4. The pace of recitation should neither be too fast, not too slow;
every word should be pronounced carefully and with bhakti
towards parmb.
5. The Stotra should be recited from a book after duly
worshiping it and not from memory.
6. The Stotra is to be recited from the book, duly placed on a
stool or holder. If the book is held in the hand during recitation,
half the merit of the recitation is said to be lost.
7. One attains the full fruit of the recitation by contemplating on
the meaning of every verse. If the Stotra is recited without
understanding its meaning, complete merit is not attained.
The Nine types of Recitation
There are nine ways to recite ca based on the order of the
charitras.
1. mahvidy - The order of recitation is prathama, madhyama
and uttama charitra.
2. mahtantr - The order of recitation is prathama, uttama and
madhyama charitra.

3. ca - The order of recitation is prathama, madhyama and

uttama charitra.
4. saptaat - The order of recitation is madhyama, prathama and
uttama charitra.
5. mtasanjvin - The order of recitation is uttama, prathama and
madhyama charitra.
6. mahca - The order of recitation is uttama, madhyama and
prathama charitra.
7. rpadpik - Every verse is recited with the sampukaraa of
the verse rpa dehi jaya dehi yao dehi dvio jahi from
argal, along with the navra mantra.
8. catuaiyogin - Every verse is recited with the
sampukaraa of the names of sixty-four yogin-s using the
catuai yogn stotra.
9. par - Every verse is recited with the sampukaraa of par
bja (bl ttya bja).
The nine forms of durg (navadurg) presiding over these nine
types of recitation are: jay, vijay, bhadr, bhadrakl, sumukh,
durmukh, prajn, vyghramukh and sihamukh.
There are three other ways to recite saptaat:
1. si krama - This is the normal way to recite, where one starts
with the beginning of the first chapter (svari sryatanayo)
and ends with the thirteenth chapter (svarirbhavit manu).
2. sthiti krama - The recitation starts with the fifth chapter (pur
umbhaniumbhbhy) and one recites nine chapters till the

end of thirteenth chapter. Then one starts with the first chapter
and continues till the end of fourth chapter (yathvatkathaymi
te).
3. sahra krama - The recitation starts with the last verse of the
thirteenth chapter (eva devy vara labdhv) and progresses
in the reverse order till the first verse of the very first chapter is
reached (svari sryatanayo).
One desirous of wealth, progeny, power etc., adopts the si
krama. Sthiti krama is suitable for all purposes including curing
of diseases, graha bdh etc. Samhra krama is suited for moka
and also in times of great distress. This is extremely potent and
works faster than most other prayogas. There is a separate
sankalpa krama for this where nyasa, dhyana, rishi etc. are
reversed.
Rtri and Dev sktas
Though not considered mandatory like kavacha, argal and
klaka, by sapukaraa of saptaat with these two sktas,
greater benefit is attained. The procedure is to recite the rtri
skta before saptaat and dev skta after the recitation of
saptaat.
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Some authorities insist that both sktas are vedic. Some others
insist that these sktas are both to be extracted from within the
saptaat hymn. Rtri skta is extracted from the first chapter
(vivevar jagaddhtr) and dev skta from the fifth (namo
devyai mahdevyai). It is the general practice for traivarikas to
recite both the vaidika and paurika sktas. The rest should
recite only the paurika sktas.
Ktyyan tantra instructs one to recite the tntrika (paurika)
sktas during saptaat pryaa and vaidika sktas during homa
and homga pha.
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Navga and Trayga
Navga ca involves nine limbs which are recited before the
commencement of saptaat :
1. nysa
2. vhana
3. catuai yogin nmni or cintmai mahvidyevar stava
4. argal
5. klaka
6. ca hdaya

7. caik dala
8. saptaat dhyna
9. ca kavaca
Trayga krama involves three limbs:
1. kavaca
2. argal
3. klaka
Two shorter schemes for recitation
For those who are genuinely unable to recite the entire hymn of
durg saptaat in a single day, the recitation can be spread over
multiple days.
The three-day scheme is called kagL krama:
Day 1 - ka (1) - first chapter
Day 2 - g (3) - second, third, fourth chapters
Day 3 - L (9) - fifth to thirteenth chapters
The seven-day scheme is called pho.aya dviprakrata
krama:
Sunday - p (1) - first chapter
Monday - ho (2) - second, third chapters
Tuesday - ya (1) - fourth chapter

Wednesday - dvi (4) - fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth chapters

Thursday - pra (2) - ninth, tenth chapters
Friday - k (1) - eleventh chapter
Saturday - ra (2) - twelfth, thirteenth chapters
Order of Recitation
The generally followed order of recitation for the various limbs
of durg saptaat is based on mara tantra:
1. Kavacha
2. argal
3. klaka
4. Navra mantra japa
5. rtri skta
6. saptaat
7. dev skta
8. Navra mantra japa
poddhra and utklana
There are some specific mantras listed in the tantras for the
purposes of poddhra and utklana which are respectively
recited seven and twenty-one times before reciting saptaat.
fV gV hV Wi WV 3a SD ?j' kl kl R |

 hV gV fV 7D 3a Q' kl kl R |
However, according to ktyyan tantra, poddhra is
accomplished by reciting the chapters of saptaat in the
following order: 13, 1, 12, 2, 11, 3, 4, 10, 5, 9, 6, 8, 7, 7 (again).
Utklana is accomplished by reciting the chapters in the
following order: madhyama, prathama and uttama. An alternate
scheme of utklana involves reciting: klaka, madhyama caritra,
kavaca, prathama caritra, uttama caritra, argal and klaka.
Navartra ktya
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During navartra, one starts from prathamA tithi - and till
durgAShTamI, recites one lakh times the navra mahmantra.
Thus, one would need to recite 12500 repetitions of the mantra
per day from pratipat till aam. Everyday, one should also
worship Caik in the yantra as described in rahasyatraya and
recite saptaat each day. At the end of japa, daa homa is
performed using the mlamantra. On the ninth day, one should
perform brhmaa bhojana, kany pj etc. By doing this, one

earns the grace of caik paramevar. This is the brief

procedure to worship Caik during arannavartrotsava.
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