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Upanishads · Dattātreya 2.5
॥
Devanāgarī
मारयमारय नमः सम्पन्नाय नमः सम्पन्नाय स्वाहा पोषयपोषय
Transliteration (IAST)
mārayamāraya namaḥ sampannāya namaḥ sampannāya svāhā poṣayapoṣaya
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
मारय मारयmāraya māraya"kill, kill"
नमः सम्पन्नाय नमःnamaḥ sampannāya namaḥhomage to the perfect one, homage
सम्पन्नाय स्वाहाsampannāya svāhāto the perfect one, svāhā
पोषय पोषयpoṣaya poṣaya"nourish, nourish"
Translation
«"Kill, kill"; homage to the perfect one, homage to the perfect one — svāhā; "nourish, nourish"».
Version
9ff4fe2384f7 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Here stands the sixth of the six acts, and it is the gravest: māraya māraya, “kill, kill.” Let us say of it briefly and finally. This is a petition for a person's death, addressed to God; and no appeal to custom, antiquity, or tradition justifies it.
The Vaiṣṇava side knows nothing of this and permits none of it; and its rule on this can be drawn from its own narratives, which, to my mind, is more convincing than any prohibition. Prahlāda, who had a tormentor for a father, prayed for his father (Bhāgavatam 7.9.28). Arjuna, whose son had been killed, did not curse the killer; and when Aśvatthāman was brought bound, Draupadī, the mother of the slain, asked that he be released (1.7.42–48).
That is, in its own books, at the very place where a person had every right to ask for death, he asks for mercy; and this is not an ornament of the story, but its central point. Let us add, too, what should be said in general of such insertions, since we have reached the end of this list. They entered these books because mantric practice was a trade, and the trade was sold.
As long as the mantra was honored as a tool, every need was attached to it, and these needs were as varied as people are. Hence, to my mind, one should hold to the very distinction this book itself gives in its first chapter: the power of the mantra is namaḥ, “homage” (1.5), and its pin is the vocative case (1.6). Where there is a bow and a call, there is address; where there is “kill,” there is neither bow nor call, but a mere order — and that order is given not to God, but to oneself.