Upanishads · Tripurā 6
॥
Devanāgarī
मदन्तिका मानिनी मंगला च सुभगा च सा सुन्दरी सिद्धिमत्ता । लज्जा मतिस्तुष्टिरिष्टा च पुष्टा लक्ष्मीरुमा ललिता लालपन्ती
Transliteration (IAST)
madantikā māninī maṃgalā ca subhagā ca sā sundarī siddhimattā | lajjā matistuṣṭiriṣṭā ca puṣṭā lakṣmīrumā lalitā lālapantī
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
मदन्तिका मानिनी मङ्गला चmadantikā māninī maṅgalā caMadantikā, Māninī, Maṅgalā
सुभगा च सा सुन्दरी सिद्धिमत्ताsubhagā ca sā sundarī siddhimattāand Subhagā, she Sundarī, Siddhimattā
लज्जा मतिः तुष्टिःlajjā matiḥ tuṣṭiḥLajjā, Matiḥ, Tuṣṭiḥ
इष्टा च पुष्टाiṣṭā ca puṣṭāIṣṭā and Puṣṭā
लक्ष्मीः उमा ललिताlakṣmīḥ umā lalitāLakṣmī, Umā, Lalitā
लालपन्तीlālapantīLālapantī
Translation
«Madantikā, Māninī, Maṅgalā and Subhagā, she — Sundarī, Siddhimattā, Lajjā, Matiḥ, Tuṣṭiḥ, Iṣṭā and Puṣṭā, Lakṣmī, Umā, Lalitā, Lālapantī».
Version
a72c8d121234 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
A list of names, and all of them are ordinary words, not theological ones: Māninī, “proud”; Maṅgalā, “auspicious”; Subhagā, “fortunate in her lot”; Sundarī, “beautiful”; Lajjā, “modesty”; Matiḥ, “understanding”; Tuṣṭiḥ, “contentment”; Puṣṭā, “well-fed, flourishing”; Lalitā, “sweet, playful”; Lālapantī, “chattering, prattling.”
Let us read this list as a description, not as a roster of deities — and out comes the portrait of a living woman: proud, beautiful, modest, wise, content, flourishing, sweet, talkative. Not a single word about power, omniscience, or infinitude.
This is precisely the most remarkable thing about ancient hymns of this kind. Abstract majesty came into them later; at first the Highest was called by the very words used to name someone who is liked.
Worth noting too is that Lakṣmī and Umā — the consort of Viṣṇu and the consort of Śiva — are set in one row. They stand side by side, as two names of one, and the verse knows no dispute between them.
The Vaiṣṇava side reads such passages without strain. Arguing over who is higher — Lakṣmī or Umā — is an occupation of later schools; the ancient verse simply lists the names of the auspicious feminine principle, and in it Lakṣmī stands first of the two. It is worth adding that the last name of the list too — Lālapantī, “chattering” — is of the kind that is not invented at a desk: this is how one speaks of her whose speech one loves to hear.