तस्र्यम् । यद्यनन्तकदूतोऽसि यदि वानन्तकः स्वयं सचरति सचरति तत्कारी मत्कारी विषनाशिनी विषदूषिणी हतं विषं नष्टं विषं हतमिन्द्रस्य वज्रेण विषं हतं ते ब्रह्मणा विषमिन्द्रस्य वज्रेण स्वाहा
tasryam | yadyanantakadūto'si yadi vānantakaḥ svayaṃ sacarati sacarati tatkārī matkārī viṣanāśinī viṣadūṣiṇī hataṃ viṣaṃ naṣṭaṃ viṣaṃ hatamindrasya vajreṇa viṣaṃ hataṃ te brahmaṇā viṣamindrasya vajreṇa svāhā
«If you are the messenger of Anantaka, or if you are Anantaka himself — "moving, moving, doing that, doing me, destroying poison, corrupting poison: poison is slain, poison has perished, slain by the thunderbolt of Indra; poison is slain in you by brahman, poison by the thunderbolt of Indra, svāhā».
4e60c8e77694 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
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The litany to the ten great nāgas begins, and it is built to a single measure: “if you are the messenger of such-and-such, or such-and-such himself” — and a refrain. This construction deserves examination, for it is curious. The one performing the charm does not know which snake bit; and hence runs through all of them by name, so as not to miss it.
This device is known in the charms of every people, and is called by collectors “an enumeration of possibilities”: not knowing the name of the trouble, one names all the names. Let us add what is embedded in this device, and deserves note. It rests on the conviction that a name is power: one who names a name gains power over the named.
This conviction was widespread in antiquity; and the Vaiṣṇava side does not share it, and cannot, and it is worth saying why. By its teaching, a name is an address, not a lever; and this was discussed reading the Hayagrīva (2.p4): the non-difference of a name and its bearer arises in a call, not in an utterance. If a name is a call, it gives no power over the named; it only sets the caller before him.
Let us add what should be said of Anantaka himself. This name here appears to be a variant of the name Ananta; and we noted, reading the second verse of contemplation, that Ananta stands out of place in the list of the venomous, for he is Śeṣa, on whom Viṣṇu reclines. This is, to my mind, the surest sign that this list was compiled not by a theologian, but by a folk-healer: he took every resounding serpent name he knew.