अथ कस्मादुच्यते नृसिंहमिति । यस्मात्सर्वेषां भूतानां ना वीर्यतमः श्रेष्ठतमश्च सिंहो वीर्यतमः श्रेष्ठतमश्च । तस्मान्नृसिंह आसीत्परमेश्वरो जगद्धितं वा एतद्रूपं यदक्षरं भवति । प्रतद्विष्णुस्तवते वीर्याय मृगो न भीमः कुचरो गिरिष्ठाः । यस्योरुषु त्रिषु विक्रमणेष्वधिक्षियन्ति भुवनानि विश्वा । तस्मादुच्यते नृसिंहमिति
atha kasmāducyate nṛsiṃhamiti | yasmātsarveṣāṃ bhūtānāṃ nā vīryatamaḥ śreṣṭhatamaśca siṃho vīryatamaḥ śreṣṭhatamaśca | tasmānnṛsiṃha āsītparameśvaro jagaddhitaṃ vā etadrūpaṃ yadakṣaraṃ bhavati | pratadviṣṇustavate vīryāya mṛgo na bhīmaḥ kucaro giriṣṭhāḥ | yasyoruṣu triṣu vikramaṇeṣvadhikṣiyanti bhuvanāni viśvā | tasmāducyate nṛsiṃhamiti
“And why is he called ‘nṛsiṃha’?” — “Because of all beings man is mightiest and best, and the lion is mightiest and best; therefore the Highest Lord was the man-lion, and this form is the world's good, for it is imperishable. ‘Lo, Viṣṇu is praised for valiance — like a beast, fearsome, roaming, dwelling in the mountains, in whose three wide strides dwell all the worlds.’ Therefore he is called ‘nṛsiṃha’.”
3f1c1c91fa8c · published Jul 29, 2026, 4:39:50 AM UTC
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The sixth word is the name itself, and its explanation is the simplest in the whole row.
It is said: of all beings man is vīryatama and śreṣṭhatama, “mightiest and best”; and the lion — likewise.
That is, the form is composed not of strangeness but of two summits: the best among men and the best among beasts.
This is worth keeping, because the man-lion is usually explained otherwise — as a stratagem: neither man nor beast, neither by day nor by night, neither inside nor outside, to get around the boon of Hiraṇyakaśipu. Tradition remembers this, and the explanation is true.
But the book gives another, and it is deeper. Not “neither this nor that”, but “both, and both in the highest degree”.
Then is added: jagad-dhitaṁ vā etad rūpam — “this form is the world's good”.
Said outright of the form which in the tradition frightens so that the gods dare not approach.
The verse from the Ṛg-veda is taken from the hymn of Viṣṇu's three strides and chosen exactly: there Viṣṇu is called “a fearsome beast dwelling in the mountains”. The line is Vedic, the beast is Vedic; it fitted the man-lion a thousand years later.