Maa Mahalakshmi Verse
Overview
This two-line verse — Sarvabadha Vinirmukto Dhanadhanyasutanvitah — comes from the closing chapter of the Devi Mahatmyam, a Sanskrit text central to Durga worship. What sets it apart from most other verses in this collection is its voice: rather than a devotee addressing the Goddess, it is the Goddess speaking, in the first person, describing what happens to a person by her own grace (matprasādena) — freedom from every affliction, and a life joined to wealth, grain, and children.
Origin and source
The verse belongs to the Devi Mahatmyam, also called the Durga Saptashati or Chandi Path, a scripture embedded within the Markandeya Purana. It falls within the text’s twelfth and closing chapter, often called the Phalashruti — a term used across Sanskrit devotional literature for a chapter or passage describing the fruits of hearing or reciting what precedes it. In this chapter, the Devi addresses the assembled gods directly, describing what becomes of a person who hears her greatness (māhātmya) recited with devotion. This verse is one line within that longer sequence of promised outcomes.
The Devi Mahatmyam is fundamentally a text about Durga’s own deeds, and the goddess speaking in this chapter is not named there as Mahalakshmi specifically. This verse is grouped here among Lakshmi-associated verses because of what it promises — wealth (dhana) and grain (dhānya) are themes closely tied to Lakshmi in the wider tradition — and because in popular practice it circulates widely on its own as a short devotional verse, apart from a full reading of the Devi Mahatmyam. That popular circulation, rather than the source text’s own framing, is what connects it to Mahalakshmi here.
Word-by-word meaning
| Sanskrit | IAST | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| सर्वबाधा | sarva-bādhā | all afflictions, all obstacles — forms a compound with the next word |
| विनिर्मुक्तः | vinirmuktaḥ | completely freed, released (nominative masculine); together with sarva-bādhā, "freed from every affliction" |
| धन | dhana | wealth |
| धान्य | dhānya | grain |
| सुत | suta | children, sons |
| अन्वितः | anvitaḥ | endowed with, accompanied by (nominative masculine); together with dhana-dhānya-suta, "endowed with wealth, grain, and children" |
| मनुष्यः | manuṣyaḥ | a person, a human being — the subject of the verse |
| मत्प्रसादेन | mat-prasādena | "by my grace" — mat, "my," joined to prasāda, "grace, favor" (instrumental); the mat marks this as the Goddess speaking of her own grace, in the first person |
| भविष्यति | bhaviṣyati | will become, will be (future tense) |
| न | na | not |
| संशयः | saṃśayaḥ | doubt |
Meaning of the whole
Read as a whole, the verse states: a person (manuṣyaḥ) who is completely freed from every affliction (sarvabādhā vinirmuktaḥ) and endowed with wealth, grain, and children (dhanadhānyasutānvitaḥ) will become so by my grace (matprasādena bhaviṣyati) — without doubt (na saṃśayaḥ). The word mat, “my,” is what marks this as the Goddess’s own first-person voice: within its source text, this is a boon she declares she gives, not a request a devotee is making of her.
That distinction matters for how this page describes the verse. What follows is a report of what the verse itself says and how it presents itself — a promise spoken in the Goddess’s own voice, within a specific text, addressed to the gods listening to her at that moment. It is not a claim this site makes about what reciting the verse will bring about for anyone reciting it today. As with Kuber Mantra and Om Shreem Hreem Kleem Mahalakshmyai Namah elsewhere in this collection, this page describes what a wealth-themed verse contains without promising the outcome it describes.
How it is recited
In practice, this verse is encountered two ways: as one line within a complete recitation of the Devi Mahatmyam’s twelfth chapter — read once, in sequence, rather than repeated — and, separately, as a short verse chanted on its own, commonly in rounds of 108 on a mala, apart from the larger text. It is heard particularly around Navaratri and Durga Puja, when the Devi Mahatmyam is recited in full, and, given its wealth-themed content, alongside other prosperity-focused verses around Diwali and Lakshmi puja.