Sri Kali Tandava Stotram

The Sri Kali Tandava Stotram is a short litany of nine verses. Every verse lists a cluster of epithets in the vocative and then closes with the same line, Kalikayai namostu te, salutations to Kalika. The closing colophon says it belongs to the Uttara Tantra; no author is named.

The fierce form

The opening verse greets her as shavarudhe, seated on a corpse, sounding the syllable hum, with eyes like blue lotuses. Verse 2 shows her in the pratyalidha stance of a warrior, hung with a garland of heads, short and pot-bellied. Verse 4 dwells on the lolling tongue, three eyes and terrifying laughter, and verse 5 dresses her in a tiger skin, with sword, cleaver and skull in her hands. Verse 7 gives her the smoky colour of the fire of dissolution, with the moon, sun and fire as her eyes, and verse 8 places her amid hosts of spirits on the cremation ground.

The gentle side

The same hymn keeps turning to her mildness. Verse 3 calls her youthful and names her Vagishvari, goddess of speech, and also Shive and Shante, the auspicious and the peaceful one. The last verse calls her kripamayi, full of mercy, and asks her as mother to fulfil every hope, naming her the giver of boons, of enjoyment and of liberation.

When it is recited

Because it is brief and built on a refrain, devotees of Kali often chant it during her worship on Amavasya, on Tuesdays and Fridays, and through the nights of Navaratri. The text carries no phala shruti of its own.