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Upanishads · Gāruḍa 1.7
॥
Devanāgarī
नीलाग्रनासिकावक्त्रं सुमहच्चारुकुण्डलम् । दंष्ट्राकरालवदनं किरीटमुकुटोज्ज्वलम्
Transliteration (IAST)
nīlāgranāsikāvaktraṃ sumahaccārukuṇḍalam | daṃṣṭrākarālavadanaṃ kirīṭamukuṭojjvalam
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
नील-अग्र-नासिका-वक्त्रंnīla-agra-nāsikā-vaktraṃwith a face whose nose-tip is blue
सु-महत् चारु-कुण्डलम्su-mahat cāru-kuṇḍalamwith large, beautiful earrings
दंष्ट्रा-कराल-वदनंdaṃṣṭrā-karāla-vadanaṃwith a face terrible with fangs
किरीट-मुकुट-उज्ज्वलम्kirīṭa-mukuṭa-ujjvalamradiant with diadem and crown
Translation
«With a face whose nose-tip is blue, with large, beautiful earrings, with a face terrible with fangs, radiant with diadem and crown».
Version
1e40d235ca40 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Note that in one verse the beautiful and the terrible are joined: large, beautiful earrings — and a face terrible with fangs. This combination is constant in Indian images, and we noted it reading the third passage: he who is called “beloved” is also called “the fire of the world's end.” It is worth stating, however, why this is not a contradiction.
The terror in the form is turned not toward the worshipper. The fangs, the crown, the fierce look are what the serpent sees; the earrings and beauty are what the invoker sees. That is, one form holds two faces, and each sees his own.
The Vaiṣṇava side holds this as a rule, discussed reading the Nṛsiṃha-tāpanī: Nṛsiṃha, tearing apart Hiraṇyakaśipu, is at the same instant gentle to Prahlāda, and Prahlāda is not afraid. Let us add what follows from this, and what, to my mind, deserves holding onto. Fear before God, in this literature, is not a virtue: it is a sign that a person stands on the wrong side.
And hence its practice does not cultivate fear, but closeness; and a fearsome form is kept in these books not to frighten one's own, but to show that one's own have a protector.