अथ अस्याः ऊरू विहापयति विजिहीथां द्यावापृथिवी इति तस्याम् अर्थं निष्ठाय मुखेन मुखं संधाय त्रिर् एनाम् अनुलोमाम् अनुमार्ष्टि विष्णुः योनिं कल्पयतु त्वष्टा रूपाणि पिंशतु आ सिञ्चतु प्रजापतिः धाता गर्भं दधातु ते गर्भं धेहि सिनीवालि गर्भं धेहि पृथुष्टुके गर्भं ते अश्विनौ देवौ आधत्तां पुष्करस्रजौ
atha asyāḥ ūrū vihāpayati vijihīthāṃ dyāvāpṛthivī iti tasyām arthaṃ niṣṭhāya mukhena mukhaṃ saṃdhāya trir enām anulomām anumārṣṭi viṣṇuḥ yoniṃ kalpayatu tvaṣṭā rūpāṇi piṃśatu ā siñcatu prajāpatiḥ dhātā garbhaṃ dadhātu te garbhaṃ dhehi sinīvāli garbhaṃ dhehi pṛthuṣṭuke garbhaṃ te aśvinau devau ādhattāṃ puṣkarasrajau
Then he parts her thighs: "Part, heaven and earth!" — and, laying his mouth to her mouth, he strokes her hair three times: "May Viṣṇu prepare the womb, may Tvaṣṭṛ shape the forms, may Prajāpati pour in, may Dhātṛ lay the embryo in you! Lay the embryo, Sinīvālī, lay the embryo, thick-braided one! May the Aśvins, garlanded with lotuses, lay the embryo in you!"
366923c98b8c · published Jul 27, 2026, 1:29:38 AM UTC
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The union itself is one continuous prayer: "part, heaven and earth" (the spouses have already been confessed as heaven and earth!), and a whole council is summoned to the cradle: Viṣṇu prepares the womb, Tvaṣṭṛ shapes the infant's forms, Prajāpati pours in, Dhātṛ lays the embryo, Sinīvālī (the goddess of the new moon) and the lotus-garlanded Aśvins hold the fruit. Conception is a conciliar work of the heavens: a child is made not by two but by twelve divine hands.
To a Vaiṣṇava ear the first name is precious: viṣṇur yoniṁ kalpayatu — "may Viṣṇu prepare the womb": the Preserver is called first to the source of every life (the mantra is from the wedding hymn RV 10.184, still sung at Indian weddings today). A child asked for in this way enters the world through a door prepared by Viṣṇu — and with that blessing every Vaiṣṇava family begins.