Upanishads · Tripurā 2
॥
Devanāgarī
नवयोनिर्नवचक्राणि दधिरे नवैव योगा नव योगिन्यश्च । नवानां चक्रा अधिनाथाः स्योना नव मुद्रा नव भद्रा महीनाम्
Transliteration (IAST)
navayonirnavacakrāṇi dadhire navaiva yogā nava yoginyaśca | navānāṃ cakrā adhināthāḥ syonā nava mudrā nava bhadrā mahīnām
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
नव-योनिः नव-चक्राणि दधिरेnava-yoniḥ nava-cakrāṇi dadhirenine-wombed, they hold nine wheels
नव एव योगाःnava eva yogāḥnine indeed unions
नव योगिन्यः चnava yoginyaḥ caand nine yoginīs
नवानां चक्राः अधि-नाथाः स्योनाःnavānāṃ cakrāḥ adhi-nāthāḥ syonāḥof the nine wheels the lords, gentle
नव मुद्राः नव भद्राः महीनाम्nava mudrāḥ nava bhadrāḥ mahīnāmnine seals, nine boons of the lands
Translation
«Nine-wombed; they hold nine wheels; nine unions and nine yoginīs; of the nine wheels the lords, gentle; nine seals, nine boons of the lands».
Version
7c34e03b6c76 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The line is made entirely of nines, and this is the very ninefoldness that the Tripurātāpinī spelled out in detail (53–59): the nine wheels of the śrī-cakra, the nine powers, the nine rulers, the nine seals.
Here it is named in a single verse, without spelling out. Comparing the two books is instructive: this one is ancient and speaks in allusion, that one is late and explains everything in order. This is usually how it goes: first a brief riddle, then centuries of commentary.
Worth noting is the word syonāḥ, “gentle, gracious,” by which the lords of the wheels are named. This is an old Vedic word meaning “soft, pleasant, kind”; in the hymns it is used of the earth, when it is asked to be soft to the dead, and of a couch.
Its choice in a list of powers is notable. The lords could have been called fearsome, mighty, terrible; instead they are called gentle. And this is again what one sees most often in such books: a teaching may be built on power, and yet the one addressed is the one from whom gentleness is expected.
The last word, bhadrāḥ mahīnām, “boons of the lands,” completes the list in a housewifely way. Mahī is a name of the earth, examined reading Tripurātāpinī (11); and the nine boons of the lands are simply what the earth gives: harvest, water, cattle. The ancient verse is not ashamed to place them in one row with the yoginīs and the seals.