Upanishads · Nṛsiṃha-tāpanī Pūrva 4.18
॥
Devanāgarī
ओं यो ह वै नृसिंहो देवो भगवान् यश्च पुरुषः भूर्भुवः स्वस्तस्मै वै नमो नमः
Transliteration (IAST)
oṃ yo ha vai nṛsiṃho devo bhagavān yaśca puruṣaḥ bhūrbhuvaḥ svastasmai vai namo namaḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
ओं यः ह वैoṃ yaḥ ha vaiOṁ. He who; Oṁ. The very one who
नृसिंहः देवः सः भगवान्nṛsiṃhaḥ devaḥ saḥ bhagavānis the God Nṛsiṃha — he is the Lord; the god Nṛsiṃha is — he is Bhagavān
यः च पुरुषःyaḥ ca puruṣaḥand who is the Puruṣa; and the one who is the Puruṣa
भूर्भुवः स्वःbhūrbhuvaḥ svaḥearth, 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 the God Nṛsiṃha — He is the Lord, and He is the Puruṣa. Earth, mid-air, heaven! To him be bow upon bow.
Version
e53524b5c99a · published Jul 29, 2026, 4:39:50 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The fourth name is puruṣa, “man” and “spirit”.
This word in Sanskrit is indivisibly double, and both sides work here. In the Puruṣa-sūkta it names the thousand-headed one out of whom the world is made; in Sāṅkhya — the witnessing principle beside prakṛti; in common speech — simply a man.
And here it stands beside the name of him who came out of the pillar neither man nor beast.
Note that the thirteenth paragraph of the second Upaniṣad explained the name “nṛsiṃha” thus: of all beings man is best and the lion is best, therefore the Lord was the man-lion.
There nṛ — “man”; here puruṣa. Twice the book underlines the human half of this form.
This is worth keeping. Nṛsiṃha is remembered by the lion part — by the mane and the claws. The book remembers the second part too.