Upanishads · Rāma-tāpanī Pūrva 4.51
॥
Devanāgarī
विलिखेन्मन्त्रराजार्णांस्तेषु पत्रेषु यत्नतः । ध्यायेदष्टवसूनेकादशरुद्रांश्च तत्र वै
Transliteration (IAST)
vilikhenmantrarājārṇāṃsteṣu patreṣu yatnataḥ | dhyāyedaṣṭavasūnekādaśarudrāṃśca tatra vai
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
विलिखेत् मन्त्रराजार्णान्vilikhet mantrarājārṇānlet him write the letters of the king of mantras; let him inscribe the signs of the chief mantra
तेषु पत्रेषु यत्नतःteṣu patreṣu yatnataḥon those petals, with care; on these leaves with diligence
ध्यायेत् अष्टवसून्dhyāyet aṣṭavasūnlet him contemplate the eight Vasus; let him ponder the eight Vasus
एकादशरुद्रान् च तत्र वैekādaśarudrān ca tatra vaiand the eleven Rudras there as well; and the eleven Rudras too
Translation
On those petals let him write with care the letters of the king of mantras, and there let him contemplate the eight Vasus and the eleven Rudras.
Version
4dcf9dbe26f5 · published Jul 29, 2026, 5:15:19 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Mantra-rāja — “the king of mantras”: so is called the chief mantra of this book, the very one whose letters will be encoded in verse fifty-seven and after.
It is written on the thirty-two petals of the preceding lotus, a letter to a petal.
Then — contemplation: the eight Vasus and the eleven Rudras.
These are the classes of deities the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad lists in answering the question “how many gods are there?”. There they counted thirty-three: eight Vasus, eleven Rudras, twelve Ādityas and two besides — and reduced it all at the end to one.
Here the same count is laid out over the diagram: the eight and the eleven in this verse, the twelve Ādityas and Dhātṛ in the next. Thirty-three.
And they lie upon the thirty-two petals where the mantra is written. That is, to each letter of the mantra a deity corresponds.
The thought is the same as in the whole book: the letters of the name are not marks. The thirty-three gods known to all Vedic antiquity prove to be arranged along the letters of one name.