Upanishads · Tripurā 1
॥
Devanāgarī
ओं तिस्रः पुरास्त्रिपथा विश्वचर्षणा अत्राकथा अक्षराः सन्निविष्टाः । अधिष्ठायैना अजरा पुराणी महत्तरा महिमा देवतानाम्
Transliteration (IAST)
oṃ tisraḥ purāstripathā viśvacarṣaṇā atrākathā akṣarāḥ sanniviṣṭāḥ | adhiṣṭhāyainā ajarā purāṇī mahattarā mahimā devatānām
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
तिस्रः पुराः त्रि-पथाःtisraḥ purāḥ tri-pathāḥthree cities, three-pathed
विश्व-चर्षणाःviśva-carṣaṇāḥall-seeing
अत्र अ-क-था अक्षराः सन्निविष्टाःatra a-ka-thā akṣarāḥ sanniviṣṭāḥhere the sounds "a", "ka", "tha" are set in
अधिष्ठाय एनाः अ-जरा पुराणीadhiṣṭhāya enāḥ a-jarā purāṇīstanding over them, unaging, ancient
महत्तरा महिमा देवतानाम्mahattarā mahimā devatānāmgreatest, the greatness of the gods
Translation
«Three cities, three-pathed, all-seeing; here are set the sounds "a", "ka", "tha". Standing over them — unaging, ancient, greatest, the greatness of the gods».
Version
c87158680f7b · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
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The book opens with three cities, from which it takes its name: Tripurā means “the Three Cities.”
The number three runs through the whole book: three cities, three paths, three lines (5), three heavens, three guṇas, three abodes in the cave (11). This composition is among the oldest in style in the whole collection: its language is Vedic, its meter triṣṭubh, and it stands closer to the hymns of the Ṛgveda than to the prose upaniṣads.
The expression a-ka-thā akṣarāḥ, “the sounds ‘a’, ‘ka’, ‘tha’,” points to a structure called in tantra a-ka-tha-trikoṇa, “the a-ka-tha triangle.” The fifty sounds of the alphabet are arranged along the three sides of a triangle: from “a” one side, from “ka” another, from “tha” the third; and at the corners their junctions. The three cities, then, are the three sides of the triangle, and the whole utterance is their outline.
Worth noting is the word by which she who stands over them is named: adhiṣṭhāya, “standing over, seated above.” Not “composed of them” and not “equal to them,” but she who stands above them; and already in the first line this sets her apart from that over which she rules.
The last two words complete it: mahimā devatānām, “the greatness of the gods.” Mahiman means “greatness, power”; and she is named not “the greatest of the gods” but the greatness of the gods — that by which they are great. This is how power is spoken of: power is not the strong one, but that by which he is strong.