Upanishads · Nṛsiṃha-tāpanī Pūrva 4.11
॥
Devanāgarī
ओं भूर्लक्ष्मीर्भुवर्लक्ष्मीः स्वर्लक्ष्मीः कालकर्णी तन्नो महालक्ष्मीः प्रचोदयात् इत्येषा वै महालक्ष्मीर्यजुर्गायत्री चतुर्विंशत्यक्षरा भवति
Transliteration (IAST)
oṃ bhūrlakṣmīrbhuvarlakṣmīḥ svarlakṣmīḥ kālakarṇī tanno mahālakṣmīḥ pracodayāt ityeṣā vai mahālakṣmīryajurgāyatrī caturviṃśatyakṣarā bhavati
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
ओं भूः लक्ष्मीः भुवः लक्ष्मीःoṃ bhūḥ lakṣmīḥ bhuvaḥ lakṣmīḥOṁ, bhūḥ is Lakṣmī, bhuvaḥ is Lakṣmī; Oṁ, earth — Lakṣmī, mid-air — Lakṣmī
स्वः लक्ष्मीः कालकर्णीsvaḥ lakṣmīḥ kālakarṇīsvaḥ is Lakṣmī, Kālakarṇī; heaven — Lakṣmī, Kālakarṇī
तत् नः महालक्ष्मीः प्रचोदयात्tat naḥ mahālakṣmīḥ pracodayātmay that Mahālakṣmī impel us; let Mahālakṣmī urge us on
इति एषा वै महालक्ष्मीःiti eṣā vai mahālakṣmīḥsuch is this Mahālakṣmī; this then is Mahālakṣmī
यजुः गायत्रीyajuḥ gāyatrīthe yajus-gāyatrī; the yajus-gāyatrī
चतुर्विंशत्यक्षरा भवतिcaturviṃśatyakṣarā bhavatiit is of twenty-four syllables; it consists of twenty-four syllables
Translation
“Oṁ, the earth is Lakṣmī, the mid-air is Lakṣmī, heaven is Lakṣmī, Kālakarṇī; may that Mahālakṣmī impel us.” This Mahālakṣmī, the yajus-gāyatrī, is of twenty-four syllables.
Version
1f755657fd4e · published Jul 29, 2026, 4:39:50 AM UTC
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The third limb: the mantra to Mahālakṣmī.
It is built on the model of the Gāyatrī: three utterances — bhūḥ, bhuvaḥ, svaḥ — and at the end the same verb pracodayāt, “may she impel”.
But in place of Savitṛ stands Lakṣmī, and stands in each of the three worlds: the earth is Lakṣmī, the mid-air is Lakṣmī, heaven is Lakṣmī.
Note the name Kālakarṇī. It means “the black-eared” and in tradition belongs not to Lakṣmī but to her sister — Alakṣmī, the goddess of misfortune and poverty, who came forth at the churning of the ocean before her.
And this name is set in one row with the three Lakṣmīs.
The strangeness is deliberate, and it is of the same kind as in all these books. We read in the Atharvaśiras that He is both death and immortality; in the litany of the Rāma-tāpanī — that He is both Yama and the Ender.
Here the same is done with fortune and misfortune: both are named, and both are asked to impel.
Twenty-four syllables is the measure of the gāyatrī as a metre; on it the count rests.