Durga Saptashati (Devi Mahatmyam) — opening invocation only
Source: Markandeya Purana, chapters 81-93; composed c. 400-600 CE; 700 verses across 13 chapters (hence "Saptashati" = 700). Narrated by sage Markandeya to his disciple Kroshtuki.
This text is 700 verses long — far beyond what can be responsibly reproduced here. Shown below is the actual chapter-1 opening line, a commonly-used ritual invocation verse (Chandika Dhyanam — an auxiliary verse, not part of the core 700, whose English rendering here is a literal descriptive gloss rather than a formally sourced translation), and the opening of the most famous independently-chanted excerpt (the "Ya Devi Sarvabhuteshu" sequence from Chapter 5).
ॐ ऐं। मार्कण्डेय उवाच॥ सावर्णिः सूर्यतनयो यो मनुः कथ्यतेऽष्टमः। निशामय तदुत्पत्तिं विस्तराद् गदतो मम॥
Om Aim. Markandeya uvacha: Savarnih suryatanayo yo manuh kathyate’shtamah, Nishamaya tadutpattim vistarad gadato mama.
Markandeya said: Listen in detail as I tell of the origin of the eighth Manu, called Savarni, son of the Sun.
या देवी सर्वभूतेषु विष्णुमायेति शब्दिता। नमस्तस्यै नमस्तस्यै नमस्तस्यै नमो नमः॥
Ya devi sarvabhuteshu Vishnumayeti shabdita, Namastasyai namastasyai namastasyai namo namah.
To that Devi who in all beings is called Vishnu-Maya — salutations to Her, salutations to Her, salutations to Her, again and again. (This verse opens a sequence of ~20 near-identical verses, each substituting a different divine quality of the Goddess — consciousness, intellect, sleep, hunger, power, and others — each closing with the same refrain.)
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