Upanishads · Tripurātāpinī 44
॥
Devanāgarī
सैवेयमग्न्यानने ज्वलतीति विचिन्त्य त्रिज्योतिषमीश्वरीं त्रिपुरामम्बां विद्यां स्पष्टीकुर्यात् । 2.31 एवमेतेन स नः पर्षदति दुर्गाणि विश्वेत्यादिपरप्रकाशिनी प्रत्यग्भूता कार्या
Transliteration (IAST)
saiveyamagnyānane jvalatīti vicintya trijyotiṣamīśvarīṃ tripurāmambāṃ vidyāṃ spaṣṭīkuryāt | 2.31 evametena sa naḥ parṣadati durgāṇi viśvetyādiparaprakāśinī pratyagbhūtā kāryā
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
सा एव इयम् अग्नि-आनने ज्वलतिsā eva iyam agni-ānane jvalatishe herself blazes in the mouth of fire
इति विचिन्त्यiti vicintyaso having reflected
त्रि-ज्योतिषम् ईश्वरींtri-jyotiṣam īśvarīṃthe three-lighted Mistress
त्रिपुराम् अम्बां विद्यांtripurām ambāṃ vidyāṃTripurā, the mother, the vidyā
पर-प्रकाशिनी प्रत्यक्-भूता कार्याpara-prakāśinī pratyak-bhūtā kāryārevealing the highest, become the inward, must be made
Translation
«She herself blazes in the mouth of fire — so having reflected, let one make clear the three-lighted Mistress, Tripurā, the mother. …By this — «he may carry us across all difficulties» and the rest — the one revealing the highest must be made into the inward».
Version
b103dfb99e86 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The line calls the Goddess ambā, «mother», and this deserves pausing over. This word is domestic in Sanskrit: a child calls its mother this, and in dramas women use it for their elders. It is neither solemn nor theological, and in a book full of syllables, triangles, and abodes, it sounds like a voice from another realm.
This is already the second time a word of living speech suddenly appears amid the abstractions: there it was a smile (33), here «mother». By such words one recognizes what a book actually lives by: doctrine is set forth in terms, but love is spoken of in the words one learns as a child. Vaishnava literature does the same. Kṛṣṇa is called Gopāla and Nanda-nandana, «son of Nanda», Rāma is called «the son of Kauśalyā»; and every time, a kinship name displaces a title, where the talk turns from power to love.
The line's second expression is pratyag-bhūta kāryā, «must be made into the inward»: the one who reveals the highest outwardly must be turned inward. This is the same movement discussed when reading the sixteenth line.