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Upanishads · Gāruḍa 2.8
॥
Devanāgarī
यदि कर्कोटकदूतोऽसि यदि वा कर्कोटकः स्वयं सचरति सचरति तत्कारी मत्कारी विषनाशिनी विषदूषिणी हतं विषं नष्टं विषं हतमिन्द्रस्य वज्रेण विषं हतं ते ब्रह्मणा विषमिन्द्रस्य वज्रेण स्वाहा
Transliteration (IAST)
yadi karkoṭakadūto'si yadi vā karkoṭakaḥ svayaṃ sacarati sacarati tatkārī matkārī viṣanāśinī viṣadūṣiṇī hataṃ viṣaṃ naṣṭaṃ viṣaṃ hatamindrasya vajreṇa viṣaṃ hataṃ te brahmaṇā viṣamindrasya vajreṇa svāhā
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
यदि कर्कोटक-दूतः असिyadi karkoṭaka-dūtaḥ asiif you are the messenger of Karkoṭaka
यदि वा कर्कोटकः स्वयम्yadi vā karkoṭakaḥ svayamor if you are Karkoṭaka himself
सचरति सचरतिsacarati sacaratimoving, moving
विष-नाशिनी विष-दूषिणीviṣa-nāśinī viṣa-dūṣiṇīdestroying poison, corrupting poison
हतं विषं नष्टं विषम्hataṃ viṣaṃ naṣṭaṃ viṣampoison is slain, poison has perished
हतम् इन्द्रस्य वज्रेण स्वाहाhatam indrasya vajreṇa svāhāslain by the thunderbolt of Indra — svāhā
Translation
«If you are the messenger of Karkoṭaka, or if you are Karkoṭaka himself — "moving, moving… poison is slain, poison has perished, slain by the thunderbolt of Indra, slain in you by brahman — svāhā».
Version
34ffd0d94a20 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Karkoṭaka is the serpent from the story of Nala and Damayantī, standing in the Mahābhārata (Book Three); it deserves citing, for it is, to my mind, the only case in this literature where a bite proved a blessing. King Nala, having lost his kingdom and left his wife, walks through a forest and hears a call: a forest fire is burning, and in the flames lies a serpent unable to move. This is Karkoṭaka, cursed and condemned to lie motionless.
Nala carries him out of the fire; and the serpent asks to be carried further, counting the steps. At the tenth step, he bites his rescuer. Nala turns black from the poison and becomes ugly and unrecognizable.
And the serpent says: I bit you so that you would not be recognized; my poison will torment not you, but the one living within you — that is, Kali, who had entered him. This story is, to my mind, the finest thing said about poison in Indian literature, and it is worth stating what follows from it. A trouble sent on purpose is not distinguishable in appearance from an accidental one; and a bitten man has every reason to consider himself doomed.
And it turns out the bite was a disguise. The Vaiṣṇava side builds its chief consolation on this, and its verse was cited reading the Dattātreya (2.6): tat te'nukampāṃ su-samīkṣamāṇo, “beholding Your compassion” — that is, looking on a trouble that has come as sent, not as merely happening. And Karkoṭaka, in this story, is, in essence, a picture of exactly such a view: he bit, and so Nala was saved.