उपनिषद् · Gaṇapati 8.1
॥
देवनागरी
एकदन्ताय विद्महे वक्रतुण्डाय धीमहि । तन्नो दन्तिः प्रचोदयात्
लिप्यंतरण (IAST)
ekadantāya vidmahe vakratuṇḍāya dhīmahi | tanno dantiḥ pracodayāt
शब्दशः अर्थ
संस्कृतIASTअर्थ
एक-दन्ताय विद्महेeka-dantāya vidmahelet us know the One-Tusked
वक्र-तुण्डाय धीमहिvakra-tuṇḍāya dhīmahilet us meditate on the Crooked-Trunked
तत् नः दन्तिः प्रचोदयात्tat naḥ dantiḥ pracodayātmay the Tusked One impel us
अनुवाद
Let us know the One-Tusked, let us meditate on the Crooked-Trunked; may the Tusked One impel us.
संस्करण
0148c21f3a76 · प्रकाशित 12 अग॰ 2026, 5:00:00 am UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
The gāyatrī of Gaṇapati is given — a verse composed on the model of the famous solar gāyatrī of the Ṛgveda (3.62.10): "let us meditate on Savitṛ... may he impel our thoughts." It is worth examining the three verbs, for they form a ladder, and a good one.
Vidmahe, "let us know" — from vid, "to know": first, to learn that such a one exists. Dhīmahi, "let us meditate" — from dhī, "thought, contemplation": having learned, to hold in thought. Pracodayāt, "may he impel" — from pra-cud, "to urge, to push forward": and may He himself move us.
Three steps: knowledge, reflection, impulsion. And the decisive, third one does not belong to the one praying. This deserves attention, for it is, in essence, the whole teaching on grace packed into a single verb. The first two acts are performed by the person: he learns and he thinks. The third he cannot perform himself — he can only ask to be moved.
The Vaiṣṇava side stands on this and says the same in many places. The Gītā, directly: "I am seated in the heart of all; from Me come memory, knowledge, and their loss" (15.15). And still more definitely at the end: "the Lord dwells in the heart of all and turns all beings, as if mounted on a wheel" (18.61); and then follows the request: "take refuge in Him alone with your whole being" (18.62).
The correspondence turns out to be exactly the same as in the gāyatrī. To move is His affair; ours is to know, to remember, and to ask. The names, incidentally, are homely, almost playful: "One-Tusked," "Crooked-Trunked," "Tusked One." It is worth noting that in its most solemn formula the book calls its God by outward features, the way one names a relative — and in this there is more closeness than in all the abstract definitions of the previous parts.