Upanishads · Devī 14
॥
Devanāgarī
नारायणेन संयुक्तो वायुश्चाधरसंयुतः । विच्चे नवार्णकोऽर्णः स्यान्महदानन्ददायकः
Transliteration (IAST)
nārāyaṇena saṃyukto vāyuścādharasaṃyutaḥ | vicce navārṇako'rṇaḥ syānmahadānandadāyakaḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
नारायणेन संयुक्तःnārāyaṇena saṃyuktaḥjoined with Nārāyaṇa
वायुः च अधर-संयुतःvāyuḥ ca adhara-saṃyutaḥand the wind, joined with the lower
विच्चे नवार्णकः अर्णः स्यात्vicce navārṇakaḥ arṇaḥ syāt"vicce" — let the nine-sounded be
महत्-आनन्द-दायकःmahat-ānanda-dāyakaḥgiving great bliss
Translation
«Joined with Nārāyaṇa, and the wind, joined with the lower; "vicce" — let the nine-sounded be, giving great bliss».
Version
ed3374f99313 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The riddle is carried to its end, and the mantra is complete: aiṃ hrīṃ klīṃ cāmuṇḍāyai vicce, nine sounds.
In the record itself, however, stands a name one cannot pass by: nārāyaṇa. In tantric sound-notation, na is called “Nārāyaṇa's,” just as va is called “wind” and ya “air”; and hence this name is here, strictly speaking, the label of a letter.
What is telling, however, is what the letter is named by. This notation took shape in a milieu where the name of Nārāyaṇa was so familiar that it was used to name a sound — as we name digits by counting, without thinking of counting. Such small details reveal a milieu more than direct statements do: whatever a people lived by day to day is what they marked with a name.
Worth noting is that the same thing was observed reading the Tripurātāpinī more than once (1, 19, 30, 32, 56). There and here alike, the point is not that the book is secretly Vaiṣṇava — it is not — but that the foundation on which it stands is Vaiṣṇava, and it shows through in details of no concern to the author.
The last word of the line is mahad-ānanda-dāyaka, “giving great bliss.” The mantra is called a giver; and that a giver has a will and may withhold was discussed examining the Paśupata (11–14). The argument here is the same, and need not be repeated in detail.