Upanishads · Rāma-tāpanī Pūrva 4.53
॥
Devanāgarī
द्वारोपतं च राश्यादिभूषितं फणिसंयुतम् । अनन्तो वासुकिश्चैव तक्षः कर्कोटपद्मकः
Transliteration (IAST)
dvāropataṃ ca rāśyādibhūṣitaṃ phaṇisaṃyutam | ananto vāsukiścaiva takṣaḥ karkoṭapadmakaḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
द्वारोपेतम् च राश्यादिdvāropetam ca rāśyādiwith gates, adorned with the signs; furnished with doors and the zodiac
भूषितम् फणिसंयुतम्bhūṣitam phaṇisaṃyutamdecked, joined with serpents; ornamented, attended by snakes
अनन्तः वासुकिः च एवanantaḥ vāsukiḥ ca evaAnanta and Vāsuki; Ananta with Vāsuki
तक्षः कर्कोटपद्मकःtakṣaḥ karkoṭapadmakaḥTakṣaka, Karkoṭa, Padmaka; Takṣaka, Karkoṭaka, Padma
Translation
With gates, adorned with the signs of the zodiac, with serpents: Ananta, Vāsuki, Takṣaka, Karkoṭa, Padmaka…
Version
fa5bb90a6051 · published Jul 29, 2026, 5:15:19 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The outer frame receives its gates, the signs of the zodiac and the serpents.
The gates are four, at the quarters; through them one enters. The signs of the zodiac, rāśi, are twelve; by them it is marked that the diagram is an image of time as well as of space.
Then begins the list of the nāgas, the guardian serpents: Ananta, Vāsuki, Takṣaka, Karkoṭa, Padmaka; the next verse will count out the eight.
Ananta is “the endless one”, the very one who in the thirty-eighth verse stood among the lokapālas and on whom, by tradition, Viṣṇu reclines. Vāsuki is the serpent with whom the ocean was churned. Takṣaka is the king of the nāgas, who destroyed Parikṣit.
The serpents in the diagram stand at the very edge, below. That is their place in the whole tradition: they are the dwellers of the underworld, guarding treasures.
Recall how this whole chart was built. Nearest to Rāma — the wife and the bhakta; farther the brothers and allies; farther still the ministers; beyond them the gods of the quarters; and at the very edge — the serpents.
From the knee on which Sītā sits to the underground guardians. Not one step of being is left outside.