Lalita Sahasranama (IAST: lalitāsahasranāma; Sanskrit: ललिता सहस्रनाम) is a sacred Hindu text from the Brahmanda Purana which lists the thousand names of the Hindu mother goddess Lalita Devi, a manifestation of the Divine Mother (Shakti), and is therefore recited in the worship of Devi according to Srikula Sampradayas. A principal text of Shakti worshipers, it describes the goddess' various attributes in the form of names organized in a hymn. This sahasranama is used in various modes of worship of the Divine Mother such as parayana (recitations), archana, and homa. A different but less popular version of the Lalita Sahasranama can also be found in the purva bhaga of the Narada Purana. Etymology and names Etymologically, Lalita means 'She who plays'. In its root form, the word Lalita means 'spontaneous' which is implicitly extended to 'play'. Her thousand names use occasional wordplay. The names are organized as hymns, or stotras, but are often broken into mantras to represent all 1000 names. Therefore, the Sahasranama can be chanted in stotra form, or namavali form. The Lalita Saharanama is one of the only sahasranamas that has exactly 1000 names without repetition. Generally, sahasranamas use the artifice of adding words like tu, api, ca, and hi, which are conjunctions that do not necessarily add to the meaning of the name except in cases of interpretation. The Lalita Sahasranama does not use any such auxiliary conjunctions and is unique in being an enumeration of holy names that meets the metrical, poetical and mystic requirements of a sahasranama by their order throughout the text. Composition Lalita Sahasranama is said to have been composed by the eight vaag devis (Vasini, Kameshvari, Aruna, Vimala, Jayani, Modini, Sarveshvari, and Kaulini) upon the command of the goddess Lalita herself. The text says that "One can worship Lalita only if she wishes us to do so." This stotra occurs in the Brahmanda Purana (history of the universe) in the chapter of discussion between Hayagriva and Sage Agasthya in Kanchipuram. Hayagriva is an incarnation of Vishnu with the head of a horse and is held to be the storehouse of knowledge. Agasthya is one of the sages of yore and one of the stars of the constellation Saptarishi. At the request of Agasthya, Hayagriva is said to have taught him the thousand holiest names of Lalita. The temple at Thirumeyachur, near Kumbakonam, is said to be where Agastya was initiated into this