Upanishads · Gaṇapati 9.2
॥
Devanāgarī
रक्तं लम्बोदरं शूर्पकर्णकं रक्तवाससम् । रक्तगन्धानुलिप्ताङ्गं रक्तपुष्पैः सुपूजितम्
Transliteration (IAST)
raktaṃ lambodaraṃ śūrpakarṇakaṃ raktavāsasam | raktagandhānuliptāṅgaṃ raktapuṣpaiḥ supūjitam
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
रक्तं लम्ब-उदरंraktaṃ lamba-udaraṃred, with a hanging belly
शूर्प-कर्णकं रक्त-वाससम्śūrpa-karṇakaṃ rakta-vāsasamwith fan-like ears, in red garments
रक्त-गन्ध-अनुलिप्त-अङ्गंrakta-gandha-anulipta-aṅgaṃhis body anointed with red sandal
रक्त-पुष्पैः सु-पूजितम्rakta-puṣpaiḥ su-pūjitamwell honored with red flowers
Translation
Red, with a hanging belly, with fan-like ears, in red garments, his body anointed with red sandal, well honored with red flowers.
Version
a156687ec423 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Four times in a row rakta, "red": he himself is red, his garment is red, the unguent is red, the flowers are red. Such a repetition in the description of a form is a device of concentration: it gives the one contemplating one color to hold onto. Anyone who has tried to picture something for a long time knows that the image blurs, but the color holds.
Let us dwell on two features that will strike our taste as unbecoming: lamba-udara, "a hanging belly," and śūrpa-karṇa, "ears like winnowing-fans." Neither is beauty; and the book, which has just spoken of one who transcends the three times, calmly calls its God pot-bellied and big-eared. This deserves note, for it says more about the relation than everything preceding. This is how one describes not majesty but one's own; no one would allow himself such words about one he merely feared.
The Vaiṣṇava side builds a whole teaching on this circumstance and calls it mādhurya, "sweetness," as distinct from aiśvarya, "majesty." Its books tell how Kṛṣṇa is bound with a rope, how he steals butter, how his mother scolds him; and all these tales are not a lowering but a drawing near. It explains this thus, and the explanation deserves citing. One stands before majesty, but lives with the near; and so the One who wishes to be loved, not only revered, conceals His majesty and allows Himself to be treated familiarly.
Hence the large belly in the description is no hindrance. It is there for the same reason that, in another book, a rope is tied at the waist.