Upanishads · Rāma-tāpanī Pūrva 4.14
॥
Devanāgarī
जानकीदेहभूषाय रक्षोघ्नाय शुभाङ्गिने । भद्राय रघुवीराय दशास्यान्तकरूपिणे
Transliteration (IAST)
jānakīdehabhūṣāya rakṣoghnāya śubhāṅgine | bhadrāya raghuvīrāya daśāsyāntakarūpiṇe
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
जानकीदेहभूषायjānakīdehabhūṣāyato the ornament of the body of Janaka's daughter; to the adornment of the form of Janakī
रक्षोघ्नाय शुभाङ्गिनेrakṣoghnāya śubhāṅgineto the slayer of rākṣasas, fair of limb; to the destroyer of demons, of beautiful body
भद्राय रघुवीरायbhadrāya raghuvīrāyato the good one, the hero of Raghu; to the gracious one, the champion of Raghu's line
दशास्यान्तकरूपिणेdaśāsyāntakarūpiṇeto him whose form is the end of the Ten-faced; whose shape is the finish of the Ten-headed
Translation
To the ornament of the body of Janaka's daughter, to the slayer of rākṣasas, fair of limb, to the good hero of Raghu, whose form is the end of the Ten-faced!
Version
2364024cf916 · published Jul 29, 2026, 5:15:19 AM UTC
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The praise descends from the Vedas and the Ātman to what tradition remembers, and its first name is the most unexpected.
Jānakī-deha-bhūṣā — “the ornament of the body of Janaka's daughter”. Not “Sītā's husband” and not “her lord”, but her ornament: that with which she is adorned.
Set this beside the previous verse, where He was named “the support of Ramā the goddess”. There He upholds, here He adorns. And both names are spoken by the gods in one breath, with no feeling that they conflict.
This is the Vaiṣṇava understanding of greatness: He who is the beginning of the Vedas turns out to be a jewel on a woman's form. Whoever cannot hold both at once will understand neither Rāma nor Kṛṣṇa.
The other names are more familiar: slayer of rākṣasas, fair of limb, the good one, the champion of Raghu. And the last — daśāsyāntaka-rūpin, “whose form is the end of the Ten-faced”, that is, of Rāvaṇa. Notice the turn: not “who killed Rāvaṇa” but “having the form of his end”. The same line of thought as in the second verse of the first Upaniṣad, where the demons perished of their own exaltation: Rāma's form is the limit beyond which evil does not pass.