32 names of Durga with meaning

All 32 names of Durga with meaning

Numbered in the order they are recited. The first column gives the name and the line it is offered with; the second, its transliteration.

Shri Durga Dvatrimshannamamala: the verses

The names come from these verses, which are recited whole. The closing lines record what tradition says of reciting them; they are part of the text, not a promise from this site.

How the 32 names of Durga are recited

1. Sit before an image of Durga, or simply face east, after a bath if you can.
2. Say each line in turn — Om, the name, namah — and if you are doing an archana, offer a flower, a leaf or a few grains of rice with each name.
3. Keep an even pace. A name said with attention is the point of the practice; speed is not.
4. Close with a moment of silence, and with aarti if it is part of your worship.

Durga mantras with meaning

Source of this list of Durga's 32 names

श्रीदुर्गाद्वात्रिंशन्नाममाला — Recited as an appendix to the Durga Saptashati (Devi Mahatmya) — vignanam.org files it under Devi Mahatmyam and drikpanchang.com prints it in its Durga Saptashati section. The sanskritdocuments.org edition's colophon places the hymn in chapter 46 of the Mahatmya Khanda of the Tripura Rahasya, where Durga herself teaches the 32 names to the gods.

The Sanskrit is traditional and in the public domain. We compared two independently published editions name by name and settled every difference against a third; the editions are listed below. The meanings are written for this site.

• vignanam.org — देवी माहात्म्यं दुर्गा द्वात्रिंशन्नामावलि
• sanskritdocuments.org — दुर्गाद्वात्रिंशन्नामावलिः (त्रिपुरारहस्यान्तर्गता)

Where editions differ, this page follows the reading most sources give; the other reading is noted:

• 26. दुर्गमता — also read as दुर्गमाता
• 32. दुर्गदारिणी — also read as दुर्गधारिणी

A short meaning cannot hold everything an epithet carries; where a name has several senses, the commonest is given.