Upanishads · Rāma-tāpanī Uttara 4.31
॥
Devanāgarī
ओं यो ह वै श्रीरामचन्द्रः स भगवान् ये चाष्टौ लोकपालाः भूर्भुवः सुवस्तस्मै वै नमो नमः
Transliteration (IAST)
oṃ yo ha vai śrīrāmacandraḥ sa bhagavān ye cāṣṭau lokapālāḥ bhūrbhuvaḥ suvastasmai vai namo namaḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
ओं यः ह वै श्रीरामचन्द्रःoṃ yaḥ ha vai śrīrāmacandraḥOṁ. He who is Śrī-Rāmacandra; Oṁ. The very one who is Śrī-Rāmacandra
सः भगवान्saḥ bhagavānhe is the Lord; he indeed is Bhagavān
ये च अष्टौ लोकपालाःye ca aṣṭau lokapālāḥand which are the eight world-guardians; those that are the eight lokapālas
भूर्भुवः सुवःbhūrbhuvaḥ suvaḥearth, mid-air, heaven; bhūḥ, bhuvaḥ, svaḥ
तस्मै वै नमः नमःtasmai vai namaḥ namaḥto him be bow upon bow; to him worship and worship
Translation
Oṁ. He who is Śrī-Rāmacandra — He is the Lord, and He is all the eight guardians of the quarters. Earth, mid-air, heaven! To him be bow upon bow.
Version
6e73ba3c900b · published Jul 29, 2026, 5:15:19 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The thirty-first mantra names the eight lokapālas — the guardians of the quarters.
We enumerated them in reading the thirty-eighth verse of the fourth Upaniṣad of the pūrva: Indra in the east, Agni in the south-east, Yama in the south, Nirṛti, Varuṇa in the west, Vāyu, Soma in the north, Īśāna in the north-east.
There they stood in the diagram's outer circle, and I noted: those to whom everyone prays are placed outside, while within are those who were with Him.
Here the order is different, because the business is different. In a diagram one arranges by nearness; in a doxology one names by name.
And I will add why guardians of the quarters are needed at all. They hold the quarters, that is, the very possibility of direction: without them there would be no “thither” and no “thence”.
The next three mantras will name the Vasus, the Rudras and the Ādityas — those very thirty-three whom the fifty-first and fifty-second verses of the fourth Upaniṣad laid out over the petals of the diagram.