Upaniṣads · Nṛsiṃha-tāpanī Pūrva 1.5
॥
Devanāgarī
किं ध्यानं किं दैवतं कान्यङ्गानि कानि दैवतानि किं छन्दः क ऋषिरिति
Transliteración (IAST)
kiṃ dhyānaṃ kiṃ daivataṃ kānyaṅgāni kāni daivatāni kiṃ chandaḥ ka ṛṣiriti
Palabra por palabra
SánscritoIASTSignificado
किम् ध्यानम् किम् दैवतम्kim dhyānam kim daivatamwhat is the contemplation, what the deity; what dhyāna, what divinity
कानि अङ्गानिkāni aṅgāniwhat are the limbs; what aṅgas
कानि दैवतानिkāni daivatāniwhat the deities of the limbs; which divinities are theirs
किम् छन्दः कः ऋषिः इतिkim chandaḥ kaḥ ṛṣiḥ itiwhat the metre, who the seer; what measure, who the seer
Traducción
“What is the contemplation? What is the deity? What are the limbs? What are the deities of the limbs? What is the metre? Who is the ṛṣi?”
Versión
d024838e93ba · publicado 29 jul 2026, 4:39:50 UTC
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Five questions in a row, and they are not idle: this is the inventory of what must be known about a mantra before uttering it.
The order is this. The ṛṣi is the one to whom the mantra was revealed; the chandas is the metre in which it is composed; the devatā is the deity to whom it is addressed. These three are named at every recitation to this day.
Aṅga — “limbs”: the auxiliary mantras with which in the rite the parts of the body are invested; we examined them in reading the forty-third verse of the fourth Upaniṣad of the pūrva-tāpanī of the Rāma-tāpanī.
Dhyāna is the image held in the mind.
These questions are asked by the gods, and in them is visible work, not curiosity. A mantra is not a spell that acts of itself: it has an origin, a measure, an addressee and a form, and all of this must be known.
The answer will occupy the rest of the Upaniṣad, and the answer will be given in riddles.