Upanishads · Nṛsiṃha-tāpanī Pūrva 4.30
॥
Devanāgarī
ओं यो ह वै नृसिंहो देवो भगवान् ये चाष्टौ लोकपालाः भूर्भुवः स्वस्तस्मै वै नमो नमः
Transliteration (IAST)
oṃ yo ha vai nṛsiṃho devo bhagavān ye cāṣṭau lokapālāḥ 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
ये च अष्टौ लोकपालाःye ca aṣṭau lokapālāḥand which are the eight world-guardians; and those that are the eight lokapālas
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 eight guardians of the quarters. Earth, mid-air, heaven! To him be bow upon bow.
Version
d0eee6c269b5 · published Jul 29, 2026, 4:39:50 AM UTC
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The sixteenth name is the eight lokapālas, the guardians of the quarters: Indra in the east, Agni in the south-east, Yama in the south, Nirṛti, Varuṇa in the west, Vāyu, Soma in the north, Īśāna in the north-east.
We enumerated them in reading the thirty-eighth verse of the fourth Upaniṣad of the pūrva-tāpanī of the Rāma-tāpanī, where they stood in the outer circle of the diagram.
Here the order is different, because the business is different: in a diagram one arranges by nearness; in a doxology one names by name.
Note why guardians of the quarters are needed at all. They hold the quarters, that is, the very possibility of direction: without them there would be no “thither” and no “thence”.
The next three paragraphs will name the Vasus, the Rudras and the Ādityas — those very thirty-three whom the old count reduces to one.