Upanishads · Nṛsiṃha-tāpanī Uttara 7.3
॥
Devanāgarī
शृङ्गं शृङ्गार्धमाकृष्य शृङ्गेणानेन योजयेत्। शृङ्गमेनं परे शृङ्गे तमनेनापि योजयेत्
Transliteration (IAST)
śṛṅgaṃ śṛṅgārdhamākṛṣya śṛṅgeṇānena yojayet| śṛṅgamenaṃ pare śṛṅge tamanenāpi yojayet
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
शृङ्गम् शृङ्गार्धम् आकृष्यśṛṅgam śṛṅgārdham ākṛṣyahaving drawn the horn and the half-horn; having pulled in the horn and half a horn
शृङ्गेण अनेन योजयेत्śṛṅgeṇa anena yojayetlet him join them with this horn; let him unite them by this horn
शृङ्गम् एनम् परे शृङ्गेśṛṅgam enam pare śṛṅgethis horn — in the higher horn; this horn — within the upper horn
तम् अनेन अपि योजयेत्tam anena api yojayetand let him join it too with this; and let him unite it likewise by this
Translation
“Having drawn the horn and the half-horn, let him join them with this horn; and this horn — in the higher horn, and let him join it too with this.”
Version
37ca27de62d9 · published Jul 29, 2026, 4:39:50 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The second verse about horns, and in it appears what the first lacked: śṛṅgārdha, “the half-horn”.
If the horns are the extreme sounds of the syllable, then “the half-horn” is that very ardha-mātrā, the half-measure, of which the book has spoken from its first pages: what remains when the sound has thinned away.
And of it it is said: draw it in and join it.
Then — para-śṛṅga, “the higher horn”. So the horns are not two but more: there is one more, standing above.
This, it seems, is that very turīya-turīya, “the fourth of the fourth”, which the book names from the fifth khaṇḍa on.
Note that here I am again at the border of what can be made out. The verse can be read both as a ritual direction for utterance and as a description of the ascent through the measures of the syllable; the witnesses do not allow a confident choice.
Only the general movement is clear: what is joined is not two but three — the horn, the half-horn and the higher horn.
And they are joined “by this” — that is, by what the whole book is about: the mantra.