Om Jayanti Maṅgalā Kālī

Om Jayanti Maṅgalā Kālī is a mantra that may be chanted as part of a yoga practice and also is used in celebration of some Hindu religious festivals. It is from the the Markandeya Purana's 700 Verses and is the first verse of its "Hymn to Goddess to Remove Impediments". This mantra is sometimes called the "Maha Kali" mantra.

For mantras, the Hindu religious tradition provides the words and syllables to be chanted and also a recommended intonation pattern. The intonation has been passed down by oral tradition from swami to swami, and in some cases it may also have been recorded in the ancient literature.

This mantra uses a central tone, a lower tone about one musical step down (shown in bold), and a higher tone a half or whole step up (shown in capitals). The underlined syllables fall on the beats, and there are four beats per line.

The text of the mantra is:

 Om Jayanti Maṅgalā Kālī
 Bhadrakālī Kapālinī
 Durgā Kṣamā Śivā Dhātrī
 Svāhā Svadhā namo’stu te.

Here is the translation put forward by Krishna Das:

 She Who Conquers Over All. All-Auspicious, the remover of Darkness, the Excellent One Beyond Time, the bearer of the Skulls of Impure thought the reliever of difficulties, loving forgiveness, supporter of the Universe, you are the One who truly receives the offerings made to the Gods and the Ancestors. I bow to you.

The mantra is a hymn celebrating the power of a human being to remove impediments and conquer evil temptations. It has three parts:

1. the opening sacred syllable "Om", pronounced AUM.
2. a list of concepts that are addressed in Hinduism, some of which are often personified as a god or goddess
3. the phrase "namo’stu te" whose meaning is "praise be to your name"

The concepts are:

• Jayanti - "the victorious" - also, a girl's name of Indian origin
• Maṅgalā - "auspicious, royal, lucky, festive"
• Kālī - "she who is death" or "she who is black" - beyond time
• Bhadrakālī - "the good, fortunate, auspicious" form of Kālī
• Kapālinī - "the skull bearer" - who has battled and defeated evil enemies
• Durgā - "the inaccessible" - suggests a secret, hard-to-reach, inner strength
• Kṣamā - extreme patience, and the capacity to forgive and forget
• Śivā - "destroyer of darkness" - self control, embracing inner darkness and changing it into light
• Dhātrī - "the mother"
• Svāhā - an interjection, approximately "hail!" in mantras indicating the end of the mantra. In Tibetan, "svaha" is translated as "so be it" and is often pronounced and orthographically represented as "soha". Svāhā means an offering or possibly, an auspicious ending.
• Svadhā - used when making an offering via fire

No.	Name	Intonation (Vedic)	Meaning
1	Om Jayanti Maṅgalā Kālī	om jah-yan-tee maṅ-gah-lah kāh-LEE	?
2	Bhadrakālī Kapālinī	bah-drah-kāh-lee kah-PĀH-lee-nee	?
3	Durgā Kṣamā Śivā Dhātrī	?	?
4	Svāhā Svadhā namo’stu te	?	?