देव ह वै प्रजापतिमब्रुवन्नथ कस्मादुच्यत उग्रमिति । स होवाच प्रजापतिर्यस्मात्स्वमहिम्ना सर्वांल्लोकान्सर्वान्देवान्सर्वानात्मनः सर्वाणि भूतान्युद्गृह्णात्यजस्रं सृजति विसृजति वासयत्त्युद्ग्राह्यत उद्गृह्यते स्तुहि श्रुतं गर्तसदं युवानं मृगं न भीममुपहन्त्रुमुग्रम् । मृडा जरित्रे रुद्रस्तवानो अन्यन्ते अस्मन्निवपन्तु सेनाः तस्मादुच्यत उग्रमिति
deva ha vai prajāpatimabruvannatha kasmāducyata ugramiti | sa hovāca prajāpatiryasmātsvamahimnā sarvāṃllokānsarvāndevānsarvānātmanaḥ sarvāṇi bhūtānyudgṛhṇātyajasraṃ sṛjati visṛjati vāsayattyudgrāhyata udgṛhyate stuhi śrutaṃ gartasadaṃ yuvānaṃ mṛgaṃ na bhīmamupahantrumugram | mṛḍā jaritre rudrastavāno anyante asmannivapantu senāḥ tasmāducyata ugramiti
“And why is he called ‘ugra’?” Prajāpati said: “Because by his own greatness he lifts up all worlds, all gods, all beings, and unceasingly creates, releases and sustains; and he himself is lifted and taken in. ‘Praise the famed one, sitting in the lair, the young — like a beast, fearsome, striking, terrible; be gracious to the singer, O Rudra, thou praised one — let thy hosts strike down another, not us.’ Therefore he is called ‘ugra’.”
d1feda11a37d · 发布于 2026年7月29日 04:39:50 UTC
可用语言RUEN用方向键翻颂
A row of ten questions begins, and each is built alike: “why is he called so-and-so?” — an explanation — a verse from the Ṛg-veda — “therefore he is called so-and-so”.
We read such a row in the thirty-fifth section of the Atharvaśiras, where each link of the chain from the Oṁkāra to Maheśvara was asked about. Here it is longer and backed by hymns.
The first word is ugra, “terrible”. And it is explained by the verb udgṛhṇāti — “lifts up, catches up”.
The etymology is free: ugra is from the root uj/vaj, “to be strong”, not from ud-grah. But the book does not pass it off as lexicography: it seeks in the sound of the name a deed.
And the deed is named: he lifts up all worlds and all gods, unceasingly creates and releases.
Then — a verse from the Ṛg-veda, from a hymn to Rudra: “praise the famed one, sitting in the lair, the young, like a beast, fearsome”.
The verse is not taken at random. Gartasad — “sitting in the lair”; mṛgo na bhīmaḥ — “fearsome as a beast”. In the hymn this is said of Rudra; in a book about Nṛsiṃha the line about the beast in the lair falls upon the man-lion of itself.
Note also the second half of the verse, which I have given in the translation: “be gracious to the singer”. The terrible name is explained — and at once mercy is asked.