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Upanishads · Sarasvatīrahasya 3.4
॥
Devanāgarī
कम्बुकण्ठी सुताम्रोष्ठी सर्वाभरणभूषिता । महासरस्वती देवी जिह्वाग्रे संनिविश्यताम्
Transliteration (IAST)
kambukaṇṭhī sutāmroṣṭhī sarvābharaṇabhūṣitā | mahāsarasvatī devī jihvāgre saṃniviśyatām
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
कम्बु-कण्ठी सु-ताम्र-ओष्ठीkambu-kaṇṭhī su-tāmra-oṣṭhīwith a neck like a conch, with copper-red lips
सर्व-आभरण-भूषिताsarva-ābharaṇa-bhūṣitāadorned with every ornament
महा-सरस्वती देवीmahā-sarasvatī devīthe great goddess Sarasvatī
जिह्वा-अग्रे संनिविश्यताम्jihvā-agre saṃniviśyatāmmay she settle on the tip of my tongue
Translation
With a neck like a conch, with copper-red lips, adorned with every ornament — the great goddess Sarasvatī, may she settle on the tip of my tongue.
Version
6c522d3c8b34 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
It is worth noting the request: jihvā-agre sanniviśyatām, "may she settle on the tip of my tongue." This request is common in hymns to Sarasvatī, and it is worth saying why it is so strangely bodily. In this literature, speech is not conceived abstractly: it is produced by the tongue, and so one asks for the very place where it is born.
This detail, to my mind, is charming: the goddess is asked to perch on the tip of the tongue, as a bird on a branch. Let us add what the Vaiṣṇava side says about the tip of the tongue, for she has her own, quite definite, view of it. She teaches that the Name must be received onto the tongue: not imagined, but uttered; and her rule is stated by Rūpa Gosvāmī thus — sevonmukhe hi jihvādau svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ, "He Himself manifests on the tongue and other [senses] of one turned toward service."
It is worth examining this verse, for it is her chief statement on hearing and uttering. It says the Name svayam eva sphurati, "manifests of itself"; that is, it is not obtained by effort. And it says where: jihvādau, "on the tongue and the rest [of the senses]."
And it says in whom: sevonmukhe, "in one turned toward service." That is, the condition set is not intellectual but relational; and the present request, "settle on the tip of my tongue," is, in essence, the same thought, only voiced as a plea.