Mahāmṛtyuñjaya mantra
त्र्यम्बकं यजामहे सुगन्धिं पुष्टिवर्धनम् ।
उर्वारुकमिव बन्धनान्मृत्योर्मुक्षीय मामृतात् ॥
tryambakaṃ yajāmahe sugandhiṃ puṣṭivardhanam |
urvārukamiva bandhanānmṛtyormukṣīya māmṛtāt ||
Translation
We worship Tryambaka, the fragrant one who makes prosperity grow. Like a cucumber from its stalk, may I be freed from death, not from immortality.
Meaning
This is the last verse of Ṛgveda hymn 7.59, a hymn of the Vasiṣṭha family. Verses 1 to 11 call on the storm gods, the Maruts; verse 12 changes metre (to anuṣṭubh) and turns to Rudra. The old index of the Ṛgveda, quoted by Sāyaṇa on the same Wikisource page, calls it mṛtyuvimocanī, "the verse that releases from death". Recited today as the Mahāmṛtyuñjaya ("great victory over death") mantra, it is used for healing and at times of danger.
The image is gentle: a ripe cucumber parts from the vine by itself, without being torn. The prayer asks for a release from death that comes as naturally as ripeness.
The key to the last words is sandhi. māmṛtāt hides two words, mā "not" and amṛtāt "from immortality", and the padapāṭha (the word-by-word recitation text, also on the page) splits it exactly so: mā | amṛtāt. The wish therefore has two halves: free me from death, but do not cut me off from the deathless. The Taittirīya commentary quoted on the page reads it the same way ("may I not be released from long life or heaven"). Sāyaṇa's own Ṛgveda commentary instead takes it as ā amṛtāt, "until immortality", i.e. release lasting up to final liberation; you will meet both readings.
Tryambaka is usually explained as "three-eyed" (ambaka "eye"); Sāyaṇa glosses "father of the three gods", and modern scholars often connect it with ambā "mother" ("having three mothers").
Word by word · 11 words
| Devanagari | IAST | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| त्र्यम्बकम् | tryambakam | Tryambaka, a name of Rudra (Śiva): traditionally "the three-eyed one"; acc. sg. m., object of "we worship" |
| यजामहे | yajāmahe | we worship, we offer to (√yaj, present, 1st person plural, middle) |
| सुगन्धिम् | sugandhim | fragrant, sweet-smelling (acc. sg. m.) |
| पुष्टिवर्धनम् | puṣṭivardhanam | who makes prosperity grow (puṣṭi "thriving, nourishment" + vardhana "increasing"; acc. sg. m.) |
| उर्वारुकम् | urvārukam | a cucumber or gourd (acc. sg.; "as [one loosens] a cucumber") |
| इव | iva | like, as |
| बन्धनात् | bandhanāt | from its bond, i.e. the stalk (abl. sg. n.) |
| मृत्योः | mṛtyoḥ | from death (abl. sg. m.) |
| मुक्षीय | mukṣīya | may I be set free (√muc, 1st sg. middle optative of the s-aorist: a wish form) |
| मा | mā | not (negative particle) |
| अमृतात् | amṛtāt | from immortality, from the deathless (abl. sg. n.) |
With the Vedic accents
त्र्य॑म्बकं यजामहे सु॒गन्धिं॑ पुष्टि॒वर्ध॑नम् ।
उ॒र्वा॒रु॒कमि॑व॒ बन्ध॑नान्मृ॒त्योर्मु॑क्षीय॒ मामृता॑त् ॥
The marks above and below the letters are the svaras, the pitch accents of Vedic recitation.
Pronunciation
tryambakaṃ yajāmahe sugandhiṃ puṣṭivardhanam |
urvārukamiva bandhanānmṛtyormukṣīya māmṛtāt ||
- māmṛtāt = mā + amṛtāt: hold the long ā of mā, then go straight into mṛ; the two words have fused.
- tryam- begins with three consonants: t-r-y glide together, "tryum".
- ṛ is a vowel, a short syllabic r (like the "ri" in "rhythm" said quickly): mṛ-tyu, not mar-tyu.
- ṃ (anusvāra) is a nasal: it sounds like m before p/b/m, n before t/d, ṅ before k/g, and a nasalised vowel before s/ś/h.