Upanishads · Tārasāra 2.9
॥
Devanāgarī
नादो महाप्रभुर्ज्ञेयो भरतः शङ्खनामकः । कलायाः पुरुषः साक्षाल्लक्ष्मणो धरणीधरः
Transliteration (IAST)
nādo mahāprabhurjñeyo bharataḥ śaṅkhanāmakaḥ | kalāyāḥ puruṣaḥ sākṣāllakṣmaṇo dharaṇīdharaḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
नादः महा-प्रभुः ज्ञेयःnādaḥ mahā-prabhuḥ jñeyaḥlet the resonance be known as the great lord
भरतः शङ्ख-नामकःbharataḥ śaṅkha-nāmakaḥBharata, called the conch
कलायाः पुरुषः साक्षात्kalāyāḥ puruṣaḥ sākṣātof the fraction — the Puruṣa, visibly
लक्ष्मणः धरणी-धरःlakṣmaṇaḥ dharaṇī-dharaḥLakṣmaṇa, the bearer of the earth
Translation
«Let the resonance be known as the great lord Bharata, called the conch; of the fraction — the Puruṣa, visibly, Lakṣmaṇa, the bearer of the earth».
Version
96b712d0eba5 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
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The roster continues: the resonance — Bharata, the fraction — Lakṣmaṇa. Both are named by epithets: Bharata "the conch," Lakṣmaṇa dharaṇī-dhara, "bearer of the earth," that is, Śeṣa, the thousand-headed serpent on whom the earth rests. The identification of Lakṣmaṇa with Śeṣa is a commonplace in tradition, and it is worth saying what is remarkable about it.
Śeṣa is the one who bears: on him the earth rests, on him Viṣṇu reclines. And his name means "remainder" — what is left over when everything else has been counted. The Vaiṣṇava side sees in him the model of the service called dāsya, "servanthood," and says that everything the Lord uses — his couch, his umbrella, his footwear, his house — is Śeṣa in various forms.
This position, put plainly, sounds strange and needs explaining. The point is not that the servant is degraded to a thing; the point is that every object near Him is someone's service, and that no service is too small. Bharata, in tradition, is a model of another kind. He ruled the kingdom in Rāma's absence — but placed Rāma's sandals on the throne and ruled in their name, living as a hermit himself.
This image deserves keeping: power exercised in another's name and with a complete renunciation of its benefits is, to my mind, the finest thing said about rule in Indian literature. Let us add that the two brothers are models of different kinds of service: one serves by presence (Lakṣmaṇa goes into exile), the other by absence (Bharata stays to rule). And that both are equally honored indicates that service is not measured by closeness.