Upanishads · Tripurātāpinī 78
॥
Devanāgarī
समुद्रं पूर्वप्रतिष्ठिअतं शोषयशोषय स्तम्भयस्तम्भय परमन्त्रपरयन्त्रपरतन्त्रपरदूतपरकटकपरच्छेदनकर विदारयविदारय च्छिन्धिच्छिन्धि ह्रीं फट् स्वाहा । अनेन क्षेत्राध्यक्षं पूजयेदिति
Transliteration (IAST)
samudraṃ pūrvapratiṣṭhiataṃ śoṣayaśoṣaya stambhayastambhaya paramantraparayantraparatantraparadūtaparakaṭakaparacchedanakara vidārayavidāraya cchindhicchindhi hrīṃ phaṭ svāhā | anena kṣetrādhyakṣaṃ pūjayediti
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
समुद्रं पूर्व-प्रतिष्ठितंsamudraṃ pūrva-pratiṣṭhitaṃthe previously established ocean
शोषय शोषयśoṣaya śoṣayadry up, dry up
पर-मन्त्र-पर-यन्त्र-पर-तन्त्र-para-mantra-para-yantra-para-tantra-the alien mantra, alien diagram, alien tantra
पर-दूत-पर-कटक-para-dūta-para-kaṭaka-alien envoy, alien army
विदारय विदारय छिन्धि छिन्धिvidāraya vidāraya chindhi chindhitear apart, tear apart, cut, cut
Translation
«Dry up, dry up the previously established ocean; bind, bind; the alien mantra, alien diagram, alien tantra, alien envoy, alien army, the one performing an alien severing — tear apart, tear apart, cut, cut, hrīṃ phaṭ svāhā! By this let him honor the lord of the field».
Version
be54d9a57daf · published Aug 7, 2026, 5:19:24 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The targets are named: para-mantra, para-yantra, para-tantra, para-dūta, para-kaṭaka — an alien mantra, an alien diagram, an alien teaching, an alien envoy, an alien army. This is a mantra of war, and a war of sorcery at that: it is directed against what the opposing side does, and presupposes that the opposing side does the same thing. Such mantras were composed at courts where warring kings kept their own sorcerers, and they form a whole category of abhicāra, discussed when reading the sixty-fifth line.
One must say the following of them. Defending oneself against an alien attack is legitimate, and the Vaishnava tradition does not condemn war as such: the whole Gītā is spoken to a man being persuaded to fight. But there one fights openly and face to face, and the Gītā lists directly what is impermissible in it; here one strikes from afar and in secret, at an unseen adversary, and there is no way to be sure one is striking the guilty party.
Here lies the vice of such a practice, regardless of who engages in it. A secret weapon corrupts not by being powerful, but by requiring no rightness: one cannot answer for it, one will not learn of it, and an error in choosing the victim will be noticed by no one but the victim herself. Look finally at the word kṣetra-adhyakṣa, «lord of the field», with which the line ends. The same word stands in the Gītā (chapter 13), where kṣetra is the body, and kṣetra-jña, «knower of the field», is the soul and Him. Here it means a guardian spirit of the place, worshipped before the rite; and the difference between the two usages shows how far two rows of books, using the same words, have diverged.