Durga Saptashati in One Map: 13 Chapters, 3 Charitras, 700 Verses
The Durga Saptashati is chapters 81–93 of the Markandeya Purana. Chapter 1 tells of Madhu and Kaitabha, chapters 2–4 of Mahishasura, and chapters 5–13 of Shumbha and Nishumbha. Here is every chapter in one table, with Gita Press verse counts and a seven-day Navaratri split.
The Durga Saptashati is chapters 81 to 93 of the Markandeya Purana: 13 chapters that tell three battles of the Devi, framed by a king and a merchant who ask a sage why their minds will not let go. Chapter 1 is the first episode (Madhu and Kaitabha), chapters 2 to 4 are the middle one (Mahishasura), and chapters 5 to 13 are the final one (Shumbha and Nishumbha). The Gita Press edition counts 700 mantras across them, speaker lines included.
The table below puts the whole text on one screen, with a link from each row to that chapter's Sanskrit and meaning in our Durga Saptashati library.
Where does the Durga Saptashati come from?
It is a section of the Markandeya Purana, also called the Devi Mahatmya, "the glory of the Devi", or simply the Chandi Path. The usual numbering places it at chapters 81–93; B. Hale Wortham's English translation in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1885, carries exactly that range in its title (Translation of Books 81–93 of the Markandeya Purana). Scholars generally date the text to between 400 and 600 CE. In the Gita Press edition, the closing line of every chapter says it belongs to the Purana's account of the Savarni Manvantara.
The frame matters more than first-time readers expect. King Suratha has lost his kingdom. Samadhi, a merchant, has been thrown out by his own wife and sons. They meet at the hermitage of the sage Medhas and ask the same question: why does the mind keep clinging to the people who hurt it? The three battles are the sage's answer. Read them without the frame and chapter 13 feels like an afterthought, when it is where the question is finally answered.
What happens in each of the 13 chapters?
| Chapter | Title | Charitra | Verses (Gita Press) | What happens | Read it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Madhu-Kaitabha-vadha | First (Mahakali) | 104 | A dispossessed king and merchant ask the sage Medhas why the mind clings. He explains Mahamaya; Brahma's hymn wakes Vishnu, who kills Madhu and Kaitabha. | Chapter 1 text and meaning |
| 2 | Mahishasura-sainya-vadha | Middle (Mahalakshmi) | 69 | The gods' combined radiance becomes the Devi. Armed with their weapons, she destroys Mahishasura's armies. | Chapter 2 text and meaning |
| 3 | Mahishasura-vadha | Middle | 44 | She kills his generals, then Mahishasura himself as he shifts from buffalo to lion, man and elephant. | Chapter 3 text and meaning |
| 4 | Shakradi Stuti | Middle | 42 | Indra and the gods praise her and ask her to help whenever they remember her. | Chapter 4 text and meaning |
| 5 | Devi-Duta-Samvada | Final (Mahasarasvati) | 129 | The gods sing the Ya Devi stanzas. Kaushiki emerges from Parvati; Shumbha's messenger proposes marriage, and she says only one who defeats her may marry her. | Chapter 5 text and meaning |
| 6 | Dhumralochana-vadha | Final | 24 | She burns Dhumralochana to ash with one 'hum'; her lion tears through his army. | Chapter 6 text and meaning |
| 7 | Chanda-Munda-vadha | Final | 27 | Kali bursts from her brow and kills Chanda and Munda, and is named Chamunda. | Chapter 7 text and meaning |
| 8 | Raktabija-vadha | Final | 63 | The Matrikas join the battle. Each drop of Raktabija's blood becomes a new asura until Chamunda drinks it. | Chapter 8 text and meaning |
| 9 | Nishumbha-vadha | Final | 41 | Nishumbha falls, revives and is killed; the Matrikas, Kali and the lion finish his army. | Chapter 9 text and meaning |
| 10 | Shumbha-vadha | Final | 32 | The Matrikas merge back into her, and she kills Shumbha alone. | Chapter 10 text and meaning |
| 11 | Devyah Stutih (Narayani Stuti) | Final | 55 | The gods' hymn with the refrain nārāyaṇi namo'stu te; she names forms she will take in later ages. | Chapter 11 text and meaning |
| 12 | Phalastuti | Final | 41 | She lists the benefits of hearing her story and names times for it. These are the text's own claims. | Chapter 12 text and meaning |
| 13 | Suratha-Vaishya-vara-pradana | Final | 29 | After three years of worship, Suratha regains his kingdom and will be born as Manu Savarni; Samadhi gains freeing knowledge. | Chapter 13 text and meaning |
Verse counts follow the Gita Press, Gorakhpur edition, which prints its own tally at the end of every chapter. Two of our pages will look different from these numbers. Chapter 5 shows 85 numbered lines instead of 129, because each of the 22 Ya Devi stanzas appears once, with a grouped reference such as 5.14–16. Chapter 13 shows 30 lines because its last verse is said a second time to close the reading; the edition's tally for that chapter is still 29.
How do 13 chapters add up to 700?
Not by counting full verses. The tally Gita Press prints after chapter 13 breaks the 700 down like this:
- 535 full verses (ślokas)
- 57 speaker lines such as "The sage said" (uvāca)
- 42 half-verses
- 66 short mantras from chapter 5, which that chapter's tally calls three-quarter mantras and the closing tally calls avadānas
Those 66 are the Ya Devi stanzas. Each stanza ends with namas tasyai three times, and each salutation is counted as a mantra of its own. Twenty-two stanzas, three each: 66.
The three episodes differ a lot in size:
- First episode, chapter 1: 104 mantras
- Middle episode, chapters 2–4: 155 mantras
- Final episode, chapters 5–13: 441 mantras, about 63 percent of the text
The final episode alone outweighs the other two together, so "one episode a day" puts more than half the reading on day three.
Which verses might you already know?
Many people know two passages without knowing where they sit. The Ya Devi stanzas are in chapter 5. The verse below, which many households recite on its own, is from the gods' hymn in chapter 11:
सर्वमङ्गलमङ्गल्ये शिवे सर्वार्थसाधिके।
शरण्ये त्र्यम्बके गौरि नारायणि नमोऽस्तु ते॥
Durga Saptashati 11.10 (Gita Press edition). Our meaning: "You are the auspiciousness in all that is auspicious. Gracious one, you bring every aim to fulfilment. Refuge of all, three-eyed one, Gauri, Narayani, salutations to you." Sixteen verses in a row, 11.8 to 11.23, end with that same nārāyaṇi namo'stu te, which is why the chapter is better known as the Narayani Stuti.
Why are the Kavacham, Argala and Kilakam read first?
Because tradition treats them as limbs (aṅgas) of the reading, and the hymns say so themselves. Their opening lines, the viniyoga, each state that the hymn is recited "as a limb of the Saptashati reading". None of the three is part of the Purana's 13 chapters, and none is counted in the 700. The Gita Press edition lists six aṅgas: these three hymns before chapter 1, and three Rahasyas ("secret" chapters) after chapter 13.
On the order of the three, that edition reports a disagreement and then picks a side. One text it cites, the Chidambara Samhita, puts the Argala and Kilakam first and the Kavacham after them. Another, the Yogaratnavali, gives each hymn the role of a part of a mantra: the Kavacham is the seed (bīja), the Argala the power (śakti) and the Kilakam the pin (kīlaka). A mantra's seed, power and pin are named in that order before the mantra itself, so the three hymns are read in that order before the Saptashati. Gita Press follows the Yogaratnavali order, and then tells readers to keep whatever order has come down in their own region.
- Devi Kavacham, 56 verses in the Gita Press numbering. Kavaca means armour: Brahma teaches Markandeya a prayer asking the Devi's forms to guard each direction, each part of the body and the family.
- Argala Stotram, 25 verses. An argalā is a door-bolt. From verse 3 to verse 23, every second line is the same refrain, rūpaṃ dehi jayaṃ dehi yaśo dehi dviṣo jahi.
- Kilakam, 14 verses. A kīlaka is a pin. The hymn says Shiva fastened the Saptashati's power with a rule, and that it opens for one who knows the rule and recites accordingly.
The edition also prints the Ratri Sukta and Navarna japa before chapter 1, and the Devi Sukta and the Rahasyas after chapter 13. How much of this a household reads varies.
How can you read it over several days during Navaratri?
The Gita Press edition gives a seven-day split for people who read regularly but cannot finish the whole text in one day. It prescribes the chapters in groups of 1, 2, 1, 4, 2, 1 and 2:
| Day | Chapters | Mantras |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 104 |
| 2 | 2–3 | 113 |
| 3 | 4 | 42 |
| 4 | 5–8 | 243 |
| 5 | 9–10 | 73 |
| 6 | 11 | 55 |
| 7 | 12–13 | 70 |
Day 4 is the heavy one: 243 of the 700. The 66 Ya Devi salutations are short, but chapter 8 alone is 63 verses. Keep a longer sitting free that day.
The same note gives a two-day route, citing the Rahasya chapter: the middle episode (chapters 2–4) on one day, the other two episodes on the next. That pair is lopsided, 155 mantras and then 545.
Navaratri has nine nights. Begin the seven-day sequence on the first day and it ends on the seventh, usually before Ashtami and Navami; the edition does not tie its seven days to any lunar dates. The text itself does name times for hearing it. In chapter 12 the Devi mentions the eighth, ninth and fourteenth days of the lunar fortnight, and "the great yearly worship held in autumn". Sharad Navaratri falls in that season.
New to the text? Read each chapter's meaning the evening before you recite it. If Devanagari is slow for you, the script converter shows any verse in IAST. A scan of the Gita Press edition is on the Internet Archive.
Questions people ask
Is the Durga Saptashati the same as the Devi Mahatmya?
Yes. It is the same text, chapters 81 to 93 of the Markandeya Purana, and it is also called the Chandi Path. 'Saptashati' means 'seven hundred', after its 700 mantras.
Do I have to read all 13 chapters in one day?
No. The Gita Press edition itself describes a seven-day split (chapters 1; 2–3; 4; 5–8; 9–10; 11; 12–13) and a two-day option for people who cannot finish in one sitting.
Are the Kavacham, Argala and Kilakam part of the 700 verses?
No. They are read before chapter 1 as limbs of the reading, but they are not in the Purana's 13 chapters and are not counted in the 700.
Why does my book number the verses differently?
Editions count differently. Gita Press reaches 700 by counting speaker lines, half-verses and each Ya Devi salutation separately; other printings group lines in other ways, and some add or leave out a few stanzas.
Which chapters tell the Mahishasura story?
Chapters 2 and 3. Chapter 2 is the battle with his armies, chapter 3 his death, and chapter 4 is the gods' hymn that follows.
Sources
- cambridge.org — B. Hale Wortham, 'Translation of Books 81–93 of the Markandeya Purana', Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1885: the Devi Mahatmya is chapters 81–93 of the…
- ebsco.com — EBSCO Research Starters, 'Devi Mahatmyam': scholarly dating between 400 and 600 CE; thirteen chapters and seven hundred verses; three episodes (chapter 1, chap…
- archive.org — Scan of the Gita Press Shri Durga Saptashati with Hindi translation and path-vidhi: per-chapter mantra tallies and the 700 breakdown (57 uvaca, 42 half-verses,…
- github.com — Digital Devanagari text of the Gita Press Durga Saptashati (goraxapura-pAThaH) used to count each chapter's entries, check the viniyoga lines of the three char…