य एतं मन्त्रराजं नारसिंहमानुष्टुभं नित्यमधीते स मृत्युं तरति स पाप्मानं तरति स ब्रह्महत्यां तरति स भ्रूणहत्यां तरति स वीरहत्यां तरति स सर्वहत्यां तरति स संसारं तरति स सर्वं तरति स सर्वं तरति
ya etaṃ mantrarājaṃ nārasiṃhamānuṣṭubhaṃ nityamadhīte sa mṛtyuṃ tarati sa pāpmānaṃ tarati sa brahmahatyāṃ tarati sa bhrūṇahatyāṃ tarati sa vīrahatyāṃ tarati sa sarvahatyāṃ tarati sa saṃsāraṃ tarati sa sarvaṃ tarati sa sarvaṃ tarati
Who constantly repeats this king of mantras, the Nṛsiṃha, in the anuṣṭubh metre, he crosses over death, crosses over sin, over the slaying of a brāhmaṇa, over the slaying of an embryo, over the slaying of a hero, over every slaying, over the round, over everything, over everything.
d6e5e0e6dda6 · प्रकाशित 29 जुल॰ 2026, 4:39:50 am UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
The second fruit: the crossing, and the verb tarati is repeated eight times in a row.
The sins are enumerated, and enumerated are the heaviest the śāstra knows: the slaying of a brāhmaṇa, the slaying of an embryo, the slaying of a hero. For such no ordinary expiations are appointed.
We read the same list in the fourth paragraph of the second chapter of the uttara-tāpanī of the Rāma-tāpanī, and there I noted: the name is stronger than the guilt, and it does not “smooth over” — it ferries across.
Here the same should be said from the other side.
All such places in the śāstras are written not to ease the conscience of one who intends to sin. They are written for one who has already done the irreparable and for whom by law there is no way out.
And the proviso stands in the very first words: nityam adhīte — “constantly repeats”. Not uttered once.
Note the order too. Death is named before sin. One expects the reverse; but the book also began with the gods taking fright at death.