LinuxTurn pages
Upanishads · Gāruḍa 2.14
॥
Devanāgarī
यदि नागकदूतोऽसि यदि वा नागकः स्वयं सचरति सचरति तत्कारी मत्कारी विषनाशिनी विषदूषिणी विषहारिणी हतं विषं नष्टं विषं हतमिन्द्रस्य वज्रेण विषं हतं ते ब्रह्मणा विषमिन्द्रस्य वज्रेण स्वाहा
Transliteration (IAST)
yadi nāgakadūto'si yadi vā nāgakaḥ svayaṃ sacarati sacarati tatkārī matkārī viṣanāśinī viṣadūṣiṇī viṣahāriṇī hataṃ viṣaṃ naṣṭaṃ viṣaṃ hatamindrasya vajreṇa viṣaṃ hataṃ te brahmaṇā viṣamindrasya vajreṇa svāhā
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
यदि नागक-दूतः असिyadi nāgaka-dūtaḥ asiif you are the messenger of Nāgaka
यदि वा नागकः स्वयम्yadi vā nāgakaḥ svayamor if you are Nāgaka himself
सचरति सचरतिsacarati sacaratimoving, moving
विष-नाशिनी विष-दूषिणीviṣa-nāśinī viṣa-dūṣiṇīdestroying poison, corrupting poison
विष-हारिणी हतं विषम्viṣa-hāriṇī hataṃ viṣamcarrying away poison; poison is slain
हतम् इन्द्रस्य वज्रेण स्वाहाhatam indrasya vajreṇa svāhāslain by the thunderbolt of Indra — svāhā
Translation
«If you are the messenger of Nāgaka, or if you are Nāgaka himself — "moving, moving… destroying poison, corrupting poison, carrying away poison: poison is slain, poison has perished, slain by the thunderbolt of Indra, slain in you by brahman — svāhā».
Version
ccc3c6bf190f · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The list of ten nāgas is complete, and it is worth looking back over it. Named are: Anantaka, Vāsuki, Takṣaka, Karkoṭaka, Padmaka, Mahāpadmaka, Śaṅkhaka, Gulika, Pauṇḍrakālika, and Nāgaka. This is the usual list of the eight great nāgas, expanded by two.
Note that this list does not match the one given in the verses of contemplation (1.2–1.4), where Elāputra stands in place of Nāgaka, and the order differs. A mismatch within the same book shows that the verses and the prose were not composed by one hand; we have noted this reading many books. Let us add what should be said of the very custom of running through names, since we have reached the end of it.
The charm has run through ten and still leaves a loophole: the next passage will say “if of spiders, scorpions, horses, the moving and the immovable” — that is, in case it was not a nāga that bit. This construction, to my mind, is touching and humane: the compiler understood the list was incomplete, and hedged. The Vaiṣṇava side has nothing against lists of names and holds many of its own: the thousand names of Viṣṇu, the hundred and eight names of Kṛṣṇa.
But the difference here is decisive and deserves stating. There, one lists the names of the One addressed; here, the names of those warded off. In the first case, the list is a way never to finish speaking of the beloved; in the second, a way not to forget a single enemy. And this, to my mind, is the whole difference between praise and apprehension.