शतनामस्तोत्रम्The hymn of a hundred names
Verse 19
कपालपात्रनिरता कङ्कालमाल्यधारिणी । कमलासनसन्तुष्टा कमलासनवासिनी ॥ १९ ॥
kapālapātraniratā kaṅkālamālyadhāriṇī | kamalāsanasantuṣṭā kamalāsanavāsinī || 19 ||
Translation
Kapālapātraniratā, Kaṅkālamālyadhāriṇī, Kamalāsanasantuṣṭā, Kamalāsanavāsinī;
Word by word
- kapāla
- skull
- pātra
- in the cup
- niratā
- who delights
- kaṅkāla
- of skeleton bones
- mālya
- a garland
- dhāriṇī
- who wears
- kamala
- with the lotus
- āsana
- seat
- santuṣṭā
- pleased
- vāsinī
- who dwells
Meaning
Kapālapātraniratā: she who delights in the skull as a cup. Kaṅkālamālyadhāriṇī: the commentary, she who wears a garland of the bones of the body; kaṅkāla, it notes from the Amarakośa, is the skeleton. Then, immediately, Kamalāsanasantuṣṭā and Kamalāsanavāsinī: she who is pleased with the lotus seat, and who dwells on it. The skull and the lotus: the cremation ground and the throne of beauty. Kālī holds both, and the verse is built to make the reader hold them together.
Commentary
Hariharānanda Bhāratī’s Sanskrit commentary, translated
Kaṅkāla-mālya-dhāriṇī: she whose way is to wear a garland of the bones of the body. "Kaṅkāla is the skeleton of the body," says the Amarakośa. (This explanation covers verses 19 to 26.)