kāvyakaṇṭha vāsiṣṭha śrī gaṇapati muni viracitam umāsahasram
Uma Sahasram
navamaḥ stabakaḥ - āryāvṛttam
The ninth Stabaka, entitled **Mandahāsaḥ — “The Gentle Smile”**, is a sustained celebration of the subtle smile of Umā. Nearly every verse returns to this single image and unfolds a new aspect of it: as moonlight, as a wave rising from the ocean of inner joy, as a destroyer of darkness and sorrow, as a source of auspiciousness, awakening, fulfilment and mental clarity. The title is therefore completely justified, because the entire Stabaka transforms the Goddess’s gentle smile into a many-sided spiritual symbol of **grace, illumination, joy and compassionate power**.
Muni’s poetic imagination is especially rich here. The smile is compared with autumnal moonlight, pearl-radiance, jasmine, nectar-bubbles, a child at play, a youthful messenger, and even a subtle force capable of conquering Śiva’s heart where Kāma himself failed. The recurring references to darkness, ignorance, grief and inner affliction reveal that the *mandahāsa* is not merely an ornament of divine beauty; it becomes a **manifestation of consciousness that removes avidyā and awakens the mind**. Śṛṅgāra, devotion and spiritual symbolism are thus interwoven with remarkable delicacy.
This Stabaka displays Muni’s mastery of **single-image development, alaṅkāra, metaphor, personification and verbal play**. Without exhausting the theme, he generates twenty-five distinct poetic visions from the one motif of Umā’s smile. The graceful **Āryā metre** suits this flowing and refined style particularly well. The concluding verse gathers the whole composition into an offering: these spotless Āryās, each marked by the sign of the Goddess’s gentle smile, approach the incomparable Umā in worship.
tṛtīyaṃ śatakam
navamaḥ stabakaḥ - āryāvṛttam
mandahāsaḥ
śāradavalakṣapakṣakṣaṇadāvaimalyaśikṣako'smākam ।
jāgartu rakṣaṇāya sthāṇupurandhrīmukhavikāsaḥ ॥ 201 ॥
vyākhyānaṃ harṣasya pratyākhyānaṃ śaratsudhābhānoḥ ।
diśatu hṛdayaprasādaṃ gaurīvadanaprasādo naḥ ॥ 202 ॥
antargatasya harṣakṣīrasamudrasya kaścana taraṅgaḥ ।
hāso harahariṇadṛśo gatapaṅgaṃ mama karotu manaḥ ॥ 203 ॥
diśi diśi visarpadaṃśupraśamitatāpaṃ parāstamālinyam ।
kuśalāni pradiśatu naḥ paśupatihṛdayeśvarīhasitam ॥ 204 ॥
antargataṃ ca timiraṃ haranti vihasanti rohiṇīkāntam ।
hasitāni giriśasudṛśo mama prabodhāya kalpantām ॥ 205 ॥
bhūṣātuṣāradīdhitidīdhityā saha vihāyaso raṅge ।
vicaran puraharataruṇīdarahāso me haratvenaḥ ॥ 206 ॥
rudrāṇīdarahasitānyasmākaṃ saṃharantu duritāni ।
yeṣāmudayo divaso bhūṣāpīyūṣakiraṇasya ॥ 207 ॥
skandajananīmukhendorasmān puṣṇātu susmitajyotsnā ।
munimatikairaviṇīnāmullāsakathā yadāyattā ॥ 208 ॥
kamanīyakaṇṭhamālāmuktāmaṇitārakāvayasyo naḥ ।
kāmān vitaratu gaurīdarahāso nāma dhavalāṃśuḥ ॥ 209 ॥
anavadyakaṇṭhamālāmuktāvalikiraṇanivahasahavāsī ।
haradayitādarahāso haratu mamāśeṣamajñānam ॥ 210 ॥
jña iva jñadṛśya uttama ilādharādhīśanandinīhāsaḥ ।
pūrṇaṃ karotu mānasamabhilāṣaṃ sarvamasmākam ॥ 211 ॥
ālokamātrato yaḥ śaṅkaramasamāstrakiṅkaraṃ cakre ।
alpo'pyanalpakarmā hāso naḥ pātu sa śivāyāḥ ॥ 212 ॥
smaramataratamīśaṃ yaḥ karoti bhāvaprasaṅgacāturyā ।
dvijagaṇapuraskṛto'vyāt sa śivāhāsapravaktā naḥ ॥ 213 ॥
radavāsasā rathī māṃ śarī karaiḥ pātu pārvatīhāsaḥ ।
pāvakadṛśaṃ jigīṣoḥ pañcapṛṣatkasya senānīḥ ॥ 214 ॥
śivahṛdayamarmabhedi smitaṃ tadadrīśavaṃśamuktāyāḥ ।
daśanadyutidviguṇitaśrīkaṃ śokaṃ dhunotu mama ॥ 215 ॥
brahmāṇḍaraṅgabhājo naṭyāḥ śivasūtradhārasahacaryāḥ ।
śrīvardhano'nulepo mukhasya hāsaḥ punātvasmān ॥ 216 ॥
adharapravālaśayane nāsābharaṇaprabhāvilāsinyā ।
ramamāṇo hararamaṇīhāsayuvā haratu naḥ śokam ॥ 217 ॥
adharoṣṭhavedikāyāṃ nāsābharaṇāṃśuśābakaiḥ sākam ।
kulamakhilamavatu khelannadrisutāhāsabālo naḥ ॥ 218 ॥
anulepanasya vīpsā dvirbhāvaḥ kucataṭīdukūlasya ।
haratu hṛdayavyathāṃ me hasitaṃ harajīviteśvaryāḥ ॥ 219 ॥
giriśāṅgarāgabhasitaṃ svāgatavacasā'bhinandadādarataḥ ।
girijālīlāhasitaṃ garīyasīṃ me tanotu dhiyam ॥ 220 ॥
dayitena saṃllapantyāḥ saha tuhinamarīciśiśukirīṭena ।
vāgamṛtabudbudo'vyādalaso māmagabhuvo hāsaḥ ॥ 221 ॥
śuddhaḥ kucādrinilayādapi muktāhārato harapurandhryāḥ ।
vadanaśrīprāsāde vilasan hāso'laso'vatu mām ॥ 222 ॥
vyarthībhūte cūte gatavati paribhūtimasitajalajāte ।
anite siddhimaśoke kamale'pi galajjayaśrīke ॥ 223 ॥
bahudhā bibheda hṛdayaṃ harasya bāṇena yena sumabāṇaḥ ।
tadumālīlāhasitaṃ mallīsumamastu me bhūtyai ॥ 224 ॥
amaladarasmitacihnāstā etāḥ sarvamaṅgalā āryāḥ ।
kamanīyatamāsvasamāmupatiṣṭhantāmumāṃ devīm ॥ 225 ॥