Upanishads · Tripurā 12
॥
Devanāgarī
परिसृतम् झषमाद्यं फलं च भक्तानि योनीः सुपरिष्कृताश्च । निवेदयन्देवतायै महत्यै स्वात्मीकृते सुकृते सिद्धिमेति
Transliteration (IAST)
parisṛtam jhaṣamādyaṃ phalaṃ ca bhaktāni yonīḥ supariṣkṛtāśca | nivedayandevatāyai mahatyai svātmīkṛte sukṛte siddhimeti
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
परिस्रुतम् झषम् आद्यं फलं चparisrutam jhaṣam ādyaṃ phalaṃ castrong drink, fish, food, and fruit
भक्तानि योनीः सुपरिष्कृताः चbhaktāni yonīḥ supariṣkṛtāḥ caofferings and wombs, well-arranged
निवेदयन् देवतायै महत्यैnivedayan devatāyai mahatyaioffering to the great deity
स्व-आत्मी-कृते सु-कृतेsva-ātmī-kṛte su-kṛtein the deed turned to one's own self, in the good deed
सिद्धिम् एतिsiddhim etiattains accomplishment
Translation
«Strong drink, fish, food and fruit, offerings and wombs, well-arranged, offering them to the great deity — in the deed turned to one's own self, in the good deed, he attains accomplishment».
Version
0ff240e0de9d · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Here is a passage that must be spoken of plainly and without evasion, for it lists the famous pañca-makāra, “the five ‘m’s”: madya (strong drink), matsya (fish), māṃsa (meat), mudrā (food), and maithuna (sexual union). The words here are different — parisrutam, jhaṣam, yonīḥ — but the category is the same, and there is nothing to be deceived about.
The Vaiṣṇava tradition does not accept this, and the reason is not fastidiousness. Strong drink takes from a person their reason, that is, precisely the faculty by which they might distinguish good from bad; and a rite that begins by taking away reason deprives its participant of the ability to stop in time. As for the last of the five, it is performed with a living person, and consent, without which all this is wrong, was discussed reading Tripurātāpinī (74) and Devī (79).
In fairness, what is said in defense should also be named. Defenders of the left-hand path assert that the five “m”s are to be understood figuratively: strong drink is the nectar from the crown of the head, meat is the restraint of the tongue, union is the joining of power with consciousness; and the right-hand branch, dakṣiṇa-ācāra, performs the rite this way, substituting milk for wine and sesame for meat.
I will answer this with what the verse itself shows. In it stands supariṣkṛtāḥ, “well-arranged, prepared”; a figure of speech is neither prepared nor arranged. This speaks of things that are carried and set out.
Worth adding is the one good thing in the verse: sva-ātmī-kṛte su-kṛte, “in the deed turned to one's own self, in the good deed,” and nivedayan, “offering.” Even here the rite is described as an offering to someone, not as an act done on one's own authority; and in this word lies the single thread by which such a practice might be drawn back toward worship.