Upanishads · Nṛsiṃha-tāpanī Uttara 4.5
॥
Devanāgarī
शृङ्गप्रोतान्पादान्स्पृष्ट्वा हत्वा तानग्रसत्स्वयम्। नत्वा च बहुधा दृष्ट्वा नृसिंहः स्वयमुद्बभाविति
Transliteration (IAST)
śṛṅgaprotānpādānspṛṣṭvā hatvā tānagrasatsvayam| natvā ca bahudhā dṛṣṭvā nṛsiṃhaḥ svayamudbabhāviti
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
शृङ्गप्रोतान् पादान् स्पृष्ट्वाśṛṅgaprotān pādān spṛṣṭvāhaving touched the feet threaded on the horns; having touched the feet pierced by the horns
हत्वा तान् अग्रसत् स्वयम्hatvā tān agrasat svayamhaving slain them, he himself swallowed; having killed them, he swallowed of himself
नत्वा च बहुधा दृष्ट्वाnatvā ca bahudhā dṛṣṭvāand having bowed and seen manifoldly; and inclining and beholding in many ways
नृसिंहः स्वयम् उद्बभौnṛsiṃhaḥ svayam udbabhauNṛsiṃha himself shone forth; Nṛsiṃha of himself blazed out
Translation
“Having touched the feet threaded on the horns and slain them, he himself swallowed them; and, having bowed and seen manifoldly, Nṛsiṃha himself shone forth.”
Version
517bf0f2e56f · published Jul 29, 2026, 4:39:50 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The third verse, and it completes the riddle with the word for whose sake it was told: udbabhau — “shone forth”.
Four actions are listed in a row: he touched, slew, swallowed, bowed. And only then — shone forth.
Note the order. The bow stands after the killing and before the shining.
This is remarkable. Natvā, “having bowed”, is from the same root as namāmi, the tenth word of the mantra. He who has swallowed everything bows.
To whom — the verse does not say. But the mantra says: namāmy aham, “I bow”, and the previous paragraph said that “he is the ‘I bow’, he is the ‘I’”.
Then bahudhā dṛṣṭvā — “having seen manifoldly”. Having seen the many as many.
And at last — “himself shone forth”, svayam. He was not manifested and was not disclosed: himself.
The swallowed did not vanish: it proved to be His radiance. This is the whole īśvara-grāsa of the second khaṇḍa, spoken in image instead of argument.
Pāda here means both “foot” and “quarter”: the four quarters threaded on the horns of the syllable.