A prayer to the Vedic or Hindu god of the planet Saturn, Lord Śani (pronounced “shah-nee”), also known as Śaniścara (pronounced “shah-neesh-chah-rah”) so as to honor the planetary god and to invoke his heavy blessing and his firm, strong protection for all the parts of the human body.  This prayer is a translation and combination of other mantras and invocations from Sanskrit, and may be recited once or many times as a long-form mantra in its own right.  First mentioned in this 2017 post.

I bow down to the slow-moving Śani, whose complexion is dark blue like the ointment of nilañjana. The elder brother of Lord Death, he is born from the Sun and his wife Chāyā.

O god of night-blue skin dressed in night-blue silk, who wears a crown, who rides the vulture, who gives misfortunes, who wields the bow, who has four hands and is the son of the Sun, be pleased with me always and happily grant me your blessing!

Let the son of the Sun protect my head!
Let the darling son of Chāyā protect my eyes!
Let the strong brother of Yama protect my ears!
Let the child of Sūrya protect my nose!
Let the bright god always protect my face!
Let he with a pleasant voice protect my own!
Let the great-armed god protect my arms!
Let my shoulders be protected by Śani!
Let my hands be protected by he who does good!
Let the brother of Yama protect my chest!
Let he who is dark protect my belly!
Let my stomach be protected by the lord of all planets!
Let the slow-mover protect my hips!
Let he who makes all ends protect my thighs!
Let the sibling to Yama protect my knees!
Let my legs be protected by him who goes slow!
Let all my organs be protected by him who wears the cloak of darkness!
Let all my body be protected by the darling son of the Sun God!

AUṂ PRAṂ PRĪṂ PRAUṂ SAḤ ŚANAIŚCARĀYA NAMAḤ

The pronunciation of the mantra at the end is approximately pronounced as “awm prahm preem prawm sa’h sha-neysh-chah-raa-yah nah-ma’h”, with the dotted H letters (Ḥ) coming out like an extra, unstressed breathy echo of the preceding vowel.  This mantra may be repeated 81, 108, or even 27,000 times as an act of devotion for Śani.