Upaniṣads · Devī 13
॥
Devanāgarī
वाङ्मया ब्रह्मभूतस्मात्षष्ठं वक्त्रसमन्वितम् । सूर्यो वामश्रोत्रबिन्दुः संयुताष्टकतृतीयकः
Transliteración (IAST)
vāṅmayā brahmabhūtasmātṣaṣṭhaṃ vaktrasamanvitam | sūryo vāmaśrotrabinduḥ saṃyutāṣṭakatṛtīyakaḥ
Palabra por palabra
SánscritoIASTSignificado
वाङ्-मया ब्रह्म-भूतvāṅ-mayā brahma-bhūtaconsisting of speech, become Brahman
अस्मात् षष्ठं वक्त्र-समन्वितम्asmāt ṣaṣṭhaṃ vaktra-samanvitamfrom it the sixth, joined with a mouth
सूर्यः वाम-श्रोत्र-बिन्दुःsūryaḥ vāma-śrotra-binduḥthe sun, the dot of the left ear
संयुत-अष्टक-तृतीयकःsaṃyuta-aṣṭaka-tṛtīyakaḥthe third of the joined octet
Traducción
«Consisting of speech, become Brahman; from it the sixth, joined with a mouth; the sun, the dot of the left ear, the third of the joined octet…»
Versión
b5a9231a3267 · publicado 12 ago 2026, 5:00:00 UTC
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The enciphered writing of the mantra continues, and here it spells out navarna, the “nine-sounded” — the chief mantra of Durgā, known to anyone who has attended her autumn festival.
There is no need to work out this record syllable by syllable: the key to it is given at initiation, and what was said examining the ninth line applies here too. Worth noting instead is the method by which the syllable is indicated.
“The sixth” means the sixth sound of the alphabet; “joined with a mouth” means fitted with a vowel; “the sun,” “the dot of the left ear” are signs written above the line; “the third of the octet” is the third sound of a given category. That is, the syllables are named by their place in the alphabet, as in a cipher letters are named by number.
This device shows how developed the reckoning of sounds was in these books. The alphabet was analyzed by the grammarians with a precision Europe reached only in the modern era: the sounds are charted by place of articulation, by octets and categories, and every one has its own place, to which one can refer as to a cell in a grid.
This should be credited without any straining. The tantric cipher rests on a genuinely scientific foundation — the analysis of language made by Pāṇini and his successors; and that it was used to conceal a mantra is a matter of custom, not of science.