Upanishads · Tripurā 13
॥
Devanāgarī
सृण्येव सितया विश्वचर्षणिः पाशेनैव प्रतिबध्नात्यभीकाम् । इषुभिः पञ्चभिर्धनुषा च विध्यत्यादिशक्तिररुणा विश्वजन्या
Transliteration (IAST)
sṛṇyeva sitayā viśvacarṣaṇiḥ pāśenaiva pratibadhnātyabhīkām | iṣubhiḥ pañcabhirdhanuṣā ca vidhyatyādiśaktiraruṇā viśvajanyā
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
सृण्या एव सितया विश्व-चर्षणिःsṛṇyā eva sitayā viśva-carṣaṇiḥwith the bright goad, the all-seeing
पाशेन एव प्रतिबध्नाति अभीकाम्pāśena eva pratibadhnāti abhīkāmwith the noose binds the desiring one
इषुभिः पञ्चभिः धनुषा च विध्यतिiṣubhiḥ pañcabhiḥ dhanuṣā ca vidhyatiwith five arrows and the bow pierces
आदि-शक्तिः अरुणाādi-śaktiḥ aruṇāthe first power, red
विश्व-जन्याviśva-janyāall-generating
Translation
«With the bright goad, the all-seeing one; with the noose she binds the desiring one; with five arrows and the bow she pierces — the first power, red, all-generating».
Version
ca9735f75365 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The four implements — goad, noose, bow, and arrows — were already examined reading Tripurātāpinī (33, 58), where it was noted that all are the implements of a hunter.
Here a word is added that was not there: abhīkām, “the desiring, the loving one.” It is not an enemy or a victim that is bound with the noose, but the one who desires himself.
This detail changes the whole image. Catching one who is fleeing is one thing; binding one who is already drawn toward you is another. The second is not a capture but a holding: one binds, so that he not leave, the one who does not wish to leave.
Vaiṣṇava literature is full of this image, and the most famous of its stories is exactly this: Yaśodā binds Kṛṣṇa with a rope, and the rope is never long enough, until He Himself allows Himself to be bound (Bhāgavatam 10.9). Hence His name Dāmodara, “He with the rope about His belly.” Being bound there is a sign not of subjugation but of closeness.
Worth noting too is the word aruṇā, “red” — the color of dawn. The same word is used of the charioteer of the sun, and it denotes not brightness but earliness: a light that is still faint and already visible. The first power is called by the color of dawn, not of noon — and this is more exact, for a beginning is always paler than what proceeds from it.