Upanishads · Mahā 3.30
॥
Devanāgarī
जिह्वामर्कटिकाक्रान्तवदनद्वारभीषणम् दृष्टदन्तास्थिशकलं नेष्टं देहगृहं मम
Transliteration (IAST)
jihvāmarkaṭikākrāntavadanadvārabhīṣaṇam dṛṣṭadantāsthiśakalaṃ neṣṭaṃ dehagṛhaṃ mama
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
जिह्वा-मर्कटिका-आक्रान्तjihvā-markaṭikā-ākrāntaseized by the monkey of the tongue; overrun by the little ape of the tongue
वदन-द्वार-भीषणम्vadana-dvāra-bhīṣaṇamdreadful with the gates of the mouth; fearsome with the doorway of the lips
दृष्ट-दन्त-अस्थि-शकलम्dṛṣṭa-danta-asthi-śakalamwith visible shards of teeth-bones; with bared splinters of dental bone
न इष्टम् देह-गृहम् ममna iṣṭam deha-gṛham mamathis body-house is not dear to me; this dwelling-body is not to my liking
Translation
“With the gates of the mouth made dreadful by the monkey of the tongue that has seized them, and set with shards of teeth-bones — this body-house is not dear to me.”
Version
9151fd447cc0 · published Jul 29, 2026, 6:29:20 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The homestead continues: now the gates.
The mouth is called vadana-dvāra, “the gates of the face”, and in them a monkey has lodged — the tongue.
The image returns to 3.23, where craving was called a monkey. The coincidence is not accidental: the tongue here is not the organ of speech but the organ of taste, that very one spoken of in the second chapter (2.54) as the least tractable.
And the last trait — the teeth, called not teeth but danta-asthi-śakala, “shards of bone”. This is a device of dissection usual in the books of renunciation: to name a part of the body by what it is in substance, passing over the habitual name.
The device works because all attractiveness rests on the name. A smile and protruding shards of bone are one and the same.
This is to be read not as disgust toward people, but as an exercise in unclasping the gaze from habit.