Dhumavati Stotram (Dhumavatyashtakam) — Word-by-Word Meaning

At dawn she is a young maiden turning her rosary; at midday she is full-grown with a radiant face and lovely eyes; at dusk she is aged, with sagging breasts, wearing a garland of skulls — may that Goddess of gods, Mother of the three worlds, Kalika (Dhumavati), protect you all. With the matted locks of Brahma bound atop his khatvanga staff, wearing a garland of demons' heads upon his chest and a crest of Garuda's feathers, holding in his hand the great horn of Yama's buffalo brimming with the blood of the gods — may the fierce Bhairava, worshipped and delighted at the time of dissolution, protect you on the night of Kalaratri. Thin-bodied, crunching pieces of bone with a loud crackling sound, laughing terribly 'kahaha-kahakaha' amid the ghosts, ever absorbed, sounding her damaru with a 'dima-dima' beat and opening wide her lotus-face, wandering and muttering 'jhama-jhama' — may this Chandika protect us. With the moon at her left ear and the dissolution-bound sun at her right, a necklace of stars at her throat, a garland of skulls upon her fearsome matted crown, bearing upon her shoulders the great serpent-banner and the skeletal weight of Brahma — may the welfare-giving Bhadrakali, who upholds all in dissolution, take away my fear. This sacred Dhumavati Ashtakam wards off every calamity; the devotee who recites it with devotion obtains his cherished accomplishment. In great danger, great terror, great disease and great battle; in driving away enemies, in subjugation and bewildering of beings — whoever recites this hymn, O Goddess, gains success everywhere. Gods, demons, gandharvas, yakshas, rakshasas, serpents, lions, tigers and all such — merely by the remembrance of this hymn — flee far, far away; how much more then ordinary men and creatures. By this hymn, O Lord of gods, what cannot be accomplished on earth? Complete peace results, and in the end one attains liberation.