Upanishads · Nṛsiṃha-tāpanī Pūrva 4.1
॥
Devanāgarī
देवा ह वै प्रजापतिमब्रुवन्ननुष्टुभस्य मन्त्रराजस्य नारसिंहस्याङ्गमन्त्रान्नो ब्रूहि भगव इति
Transliteration (IAST)
devā ha vai prajāpatimabruvannanuṣṭubhasya mantrarājasya nārasiṃhasyāṅgamantrānno brūhi bhagava iti
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
देवाः ह वै प्रजापतिम् अब्रुवन्devāḥ ha vai prajāpatim abruvanthe gods said to Prajāpati; the celestials spoke to Prajāpati
अनुष्टुभस्य मन्त्रराजस्यanuṣṭubhasya mantrarājasyaof the anuṣṭubh king of mantras; of the chief mantra in the anuṣṭubh
नारसिंहस्य अङ्गमन्त्रान्nārasiṃhasya aṅgamantrānthe Nārasiṃha — the limb-mantras; of the nārasiṃha — the aṅga-mantras
नः ब्रूहि भगवः इतिnaḥ brūhi bhagavaḥ ititell us, O lord; declare to us, master
Translation
The gods said to Prajāpati: “Tell us, O lord, the limb-mantras of this anuṣṭubh king of mantras, the Nārasiṃha.”
Version
ad83beedb843 · published Jul 29, 2026, 4:39:50 AM UTC
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The fourth Upaniṣad is the longest in the pūrva-tāpanī, and it opens with the question of the limbs.
An aṅga-mantra is a mantra that accompanies the chief one. The first Upaniṣad already named three of them in its sixth paragraph: the Sāvitrī, the praṇava and the Mahālakṣmī yajus. Now all four will be named and each examined.
The order of examination will be this: the praṇava (paragraphs 3–7, and for its sake the book will cite the Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad entire), the Sāvitrī (8–10), the Mahālakṣmī yajus (11–12), the gāyatrī of Nṛsiṃha (13).
And then, from the fourteenth paragraph, begins that for which this book is needed at all in the exposition of the Vedānta-sūtra: the litany of thirty-two mantras.
Note that the gods ask for the fourth time. In the second Upaniṣad they begged the mantra itself, frightened of death; in the third — its power and seed; here — the limbs; in the fourteenth paragraph they will ask how to propitiate Him.
The order of the questions runs from the instrument to Him who is behind it.