Navarna Mantra (Chamunda nine-syllable)
The nine-syllable Devi mantra used in the recitation of the Durga Saptashati.
Durga Saptashati (Devi Mahatmya) Navarna vidhiedition
Sanskrit · संस्कृत
No verified recitation yet. We publish audio only with a named reciter and a recorded licence, rather than files of unknown provenance.
Meaning
An address to Chamunda, preceded by the three seed syllables associated with Saraswati, Mahalakshmi and Mahakali.
This rendering is by a DharmSetu editor, not a quotation from a published translation.
A Hindi meaning has not been written for this mantra yet. Hindi is authored by a named editor rather than machine-translated, so it arrives more slowly.
How to recite
- Repetitions
- 108
Pronunciation key — sounds commonly got wrong
- ट ठ ड ढ ण · ṭ ṭh ḍ ḍh ṇ
- Retroflex — the tongue curls back and touches the roof of the mouth. Distinct from the dental त थ द ध न, where the tongue touches the teeth.
- श ष स · ś ṣ s
- Three different sounds: ś as in “shy”, ṣ retroflex and further back, s plain. Collapsing them changes words.
- ः · ḥ (visarga)
- A soft outward breath echoing the preceding vowel — not a hard “ha”.
- ं · ṃ (anusvara)
- Nasalises the vowel; the closing sound follows the consonant that comes next.
- Long vs short vowels — a / ā, i / ī, u / ū
- Vowel length is meaningful in Sanskrit. Hold the macron vowels roughly twice as long.
- Aspirated consonants — kh, gh, ch, th, dh, ph, bh
- A distinct puff of breath. ph is an aspirated p, never an English “f”.
Context
Shadanga — the six limbs
The traditional analytic frame for a mantra. Blank limbs are simply not recorded for this text.
- devata
- Chamunda
- bija
- aiṃ hrīṃ klīṃ
Before you begin
In many lineages this mantra is received from a teacher before it is taken up as regular japa, and the Saptashati recitation has its own preparatory sequence. A verified acharya can advise on that; the text is given here in full as it appears in published editions.
Recited at / traditionally recited for
Classified as Tantric — From the Tantras. Typically built on bija (seed) syllables. Basis for this classification.
Related mantras
Mahamrityunjaya Mantra
The Tryambaka verse of the Rigveda, addressed to Rudra — a prayer for release, likening it to a ripe fruit loosening from its stem.
Om Gam Ganapataye Namah
The Ganesha bija mantra, built on the seed syllable gaṃ given in the Ganapati Atharvashirsha.
Devi Sukta — opening verse
The Goddess speaks in the first person: I move with the Rudras, the Vasus, the Adityas. Rigveda 10.125.1.