Upanishads · Rāma-tāpanī Uttara 5.21
॥
Devanāgarī
यत्प्रयागादितीर्थोक्त प्रायश्चित्तशतैरपि । नैवापनोद्यते पापं तदप्याशु विनाशयेत्
Transliteration (IAST)
yatprayāgāditīrthokta prāyaścittaśatairapi | naivāpanodyate pāpaṃ tadapyāśu vināśayet
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
यत् प्रयागादितीर्थोक्तyat prayāgāditīrthoktawhat at Prayāga and other fords is prescribed; the rites appointed at Prayāga and other tīrthas
प्रायश्चित्तशतैः अपिprāyaścittaśataiḥ apieven by hundreds of expiations; even by a hundred penances
न एव अपनोद्यते पापम्na eva apanodyate pāpamthe sin is not driven off; the taint is not removed
तत् अपि आशु विनाशयेत्tat api āśu vināśayetthat too it will swiftly destroy; this too it will soon annihilate
Translation
“The sin that is not driven off even by the hundreds of expiations prescribed at Prayāga and the other fords — that too it will swiftly destroy.”
Version
e0a0b9cb1828 · published Jul 29, 2026, 5:15:19 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The verse compares the mantra with pilgrimage, and the comparison must be understood rightly.
Prayāga is the confluence of the Gaṅgā and the Yamunā, the chief place of bathing; tīrtha means “ford, crossing”, and there is the same root as in the word tāraka.
It is said: there are sins that even hundreds of expiations at Prayāga do not remove.
This is no blasphemy against the holy places. The śāstras themselves admit that for some deeds no expiation is appointed; the verse simply takes the extreme case.
Note the echo of words. Tīrtha is a ford; tāraka is the ferrying one. The verse, then, sets one crossing above the other, and does so on a common root.
The first chapter of the uttara already made this move when it said of Kurukṣetra: “wherever anyone goes, let him think it that very place.” The place was then transferred into the man.
Here the same transfer: not to go there, but to say this.
The next verse will speak of sins done in the holy places themselves — and that will be stronger.