Upanishads · Rāma-tāpanī Pūrva 4.57
॥
Devanāgarī
हुंकारं चात्र रामस्य मालमन्त्रोऽधुनेरितः । तारो नतिश्च निद्रायाः स्मृतिर्भेदश्च कामिका
Transliteration (IAST)
huṃkāraṃ cātra rāmasya mālamantro'dhuneritaḥ | tāro natiśca nidrāyāḥ smṛtirbhedaśca kāmikā
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
हुंकारम् च अत्र रामस्यhuṃkāram ca atra rāmasyaand the syllable “huṁ” here at Rāma's; here “huṁ” beside the name of Rāma
मालमन्त्रः अधुना ईरितःmālamantraḥ adhunā īritaḥthe garland-mantra is now uttered; now the rosary mantra is proclaimed
तारः नतिः च निद्रायाःtāraḥ natiḥ ca nidrāyāḥ“tāra”, the bow, and from “nidrā”; the Oṁkāra, namaḥ, and from sleep
स्मृतिः भेदः च कामिकाsmṛtiḥ bhedaḥ ca kāmikāmemory, division and “kāmikā”; smṛti, bheda and the desirous one
Translation
And the syllable “huṁ” here with the name of Rāma. Now the garland-mantra is uttered: “tāra”, the bow, and from “nidrā” — memory, division and “kāmikā”…
Version
88457d6f554b · published Jul 29, 2026, 5:15:19 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The beginning of the mālā-mantra is announced — that “rosary” one of which the forty-fifth verse spoke.
Mālā means “garland, rosary”: this mantra is long and is told on beads. Here it is given entire — from this verse to the sixty-fourth, that is, eight verses in a row.
And all of it is written in code.
One can see how it works: tāra — Oṁ; nati — “namaḥ”; and then come words each of which points to a letter: nidrā — “sleep”, smṛti — “memory”, bheda — “division”, kāmikā — “the desirous one”.
This cannot be read as connected speech: it would come out nonsense. The words here do not mean but point, and point by a chart which the book itself does not contain.
That is why these verses in translation look like a jumble. They are a jumble — for the one without the key.
I will not pretend to decode them: the key passes from teacher to pupil, and from our witnesses it cannot be restored with confidence. But neither may these verses be skipped — they are part of the book, and by their number one sees how great the mantra was.
The sixty-fourth verse will name the total: forty-seven letters.