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Mantra · Taittiriya verses on Earth, a rekindled fire and Vishnu's strides

Bhu Suktam

भूमिर्भूम्ना द्यौर्वरिणाऽन्तरिक्षं महित्वा । उपस्थे ते देव्यदितेऽग्निमन्नादमन्नाद्यायाऽऽदधे ॥

Also known as Bhumirbhumna

In Devanagari, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and English — with the meaning of every word, and the one syllable most people pronounce wrongly.

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What the Bhu Suktam is

The Bhu Suktam is the Krishna Yajurveda hymn to the Earth, opening with the words Bhumirbhumna dyaurvarina, and it joins two Taittiriya passages. Verses 1 to 6 come from the Taittiriya Samhita (1.5.3) and belong to the laying down of the sacred fire a second time. Earth, heaven and the mid-region are named, and Agni is set on the lap of the goddess Aditi. Three verses on the dappled bull follow, close to Rig Veda 10.189 in different wording and order, and the last two own to a fire scattered in anger and kindle it again. Verses 7 and 8 come from the Taittiriya Brahmana (3.1.2.5-6) and praise Shrona, the great goddess and ageless wife of Vishnu, beside his three strides. Recited versions run longer and carry further verses to Medini Devi that have no located Vedic source, so they are not printed here. The text is given without accent marks; chanting it with the svaras is learned from a teacher.

Shed skins and a fire laid twice

The verses name no author and tell no tale; the Taittiriya Samhita explains them through the rite they serve. This section opens with a quarrel over riches. Before fighting the Asuras, the gods left their wealth with Agni, who made off with it. Caught and pressed, he wept, which the text gives as the origin of the name Rudra, and his tear became silver. From there it turns to the Punaradheya, in which one who has removed the household fire lays it down again. The prose at 1.5.4 then takes up these very verses. The serpents, it says, thought they were growing worn out, until Kasarnira Kadraveya saw this mantra and they struck off their old skins. So the Garhapatya fire is laid with the verses of the queen of serpents, to renew it. The same prose adds that pure food did not reach the Earth until she herself saw the mantra. The closing stanzas belong elsewhere, among the Brahmana's verses to the stars, where Shrona is the star of Vishnu. Reciters take her as Bhu Devi, consort of Vishnu. In Sri Vaishnava worship the hymn is one of five suktas recited at Tirumanjanam, the sacred bath of Vishnu, and Vedanta Desika's 33-verse Bhu Stuti echoes it.

The mantra, in six scripts

DevanagariSanskrit & Hindiभूमिर्भूम्ना द्यौर्वरिणाऽन्तरिक्षं महित्वा । उपस्थे ते देव्यदितेऽग्निमन्नादमन्नाद्यायाऽऽदधे ॥

Tamilபூமிர்பூம்நா த்யௌர்வரிணாந்தரிக்ஷம் மஹித்வா । உபஸ்தே தே தேவ்யதிதேக்நிமந்நாதமந்நாத்யாயாததே ॥

Teluguభూమిర్భూమ్నా ద్యౌర్వరిణాఽన్తరిక్షం మహిత్వా । ఉపస్థే తే దేవ్యదితేఽగ్నిమన్నాదమన్నాద్యాయాఽఽదధే ॥

Kannadaಭೂಮಿರ್ಭೂಮ್ನಾ ದ್ಯೌರ್ವರಿಣಾಽನ್ತರಿಕ್ಷಂ ಮಹಿತ್ವಾ । ಉಪಸ್ಥೇ ತೇ ದೇವ್ಯದಿತೇಽಗ್ನಿಮನ್ನಾದಮನ್ನಾದ್ಯಾಯಾಽಽದಧೇ ॥

Malayalamഭൂമിര്ഭൂമ്നാ ദ്യൌര്വരിണാഽന്തരിക്ഷം മഹിത്വാ । ഉപസ്ഥേ തേ ദേവ്യദിതേഽഗ്നിമന്നാദമന്നാദ്യായാഽഽദധേ ॥

EnglishRoman transliterationbhūmirbhūmnā dyaurvariṇā'ntarikṣaṃ mahitvā | upasthe te devyadite'gnimannādamannādyāyā''dadhe ||

“Earth by her vastness, heaven by its breadth, the mid-region by its greatness. On your lap, divine Aditi, I set down Agni, the eater of food, so that there may be food to eat.”

भूमिर्: bhūmir — earth
भूम्ना: bhūmnā — by her vastness
द्यौर्: dyaur — heaven
वरिणा: variṇā — by its breadth
अन्तरिक्षं: antarikṣaṃ — the mid-region
महित्वा: mahitvā — by its greatness
उपस्थे: upasthe — on the lap
ते: te — your
देवि: devi — O goddess
अदिते: adite — O Aditi
अग्निम्: agnim — Agni
अन्नादम्: annādam — the eater of food
अन्नाद्याय: annādyāya — so that there may be food
आदधे: ādadhe — I set down

Bhu Suktam lyrics in full

Eight verses: six from the Taittiriya Samhita and two from the Taittiriya Brahmana, without accent marks.

All 8 verses, in Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and English, each with its meaning. Choose a script:

Download the Bhu Suktam PDFAll 8 verses with their meanings, in Sanskrit. Free to print and keep.

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Verse 1

भूमिर्भूम्ना द्यौर्वरिणाऽन्तरिक्षं महित्वा ।
उपस्थे ते देव्यदितेऽग्निमन्नादमन्नाद्यायाऽऽदधे ॥

Earth by her vastness, heaven by its breadth, the mid-region by its greatness. On your lap, divine Aditi, I set down Agni, the eater of food, so that there may be food to eat.

Verse 2

आऽयङ्गौः पृश्निरक्रमीदसनन्मातरं पुनः ।
पितरं च प्रयन्थ्सुवः ॥

This dappled bull has come forward and reached his mother again, and goes on to his father, the heavens.

Verse 3

त्रिग्ंशद्धाम विराजति वाक्पतङ्गाय शिश्रिये ।
प्रत्यस्य वह द्युभिः ॥

Speech shines over thirty stations and has given herself to the winged one, the Sun. Bear towards him with the light of the days.

Verse 4

अस्य प्राणादपानत्यन्तश्चरति रोचना ।
व्यख्यन्महिषः सुवः ॥

From his in-breath he breathes out; a radiance moves between the worlds. The mighty one has looked out over the heavens.

Verse 5

यत्त्वा क्रुद्धः परोवप मन्युना यदवर्त्या ।
सुकल्पमग्ने तत्तव पुनस्त्वोद्दीपयामसि ॥

If in anger I scattered you away, in wrath or through mishap, O Agni, that is easily put right for you: we kindle you again.

Verse 6

यत्ते मन्युपरोप्तस्य पृथिवीमनु दध्वसे ।
आदित्या विश्वे तद्देवा वसवश्च समाभरन् ॥

That part of you, scattered in wrath, which fell away over the earth, the Adityas, all the gods and the Vasus gathered up together.

Verse 7

शृण्वन्ति श्रोणाममृतस्य गोपाम् ।
पुण्यामस्या उपशृणोमि वाचम् ।
महीं देवीं विष्णुपत्नीमजूर्याम् ।
प्रतीचीमेनाग्ं हविषा यजामः ॥

They hear of Shrona, guardian of immortality; I listen to her holy voice. With this offering we worship her, the great goddess, the ageless wife of Vishnu, who turns towards us.

Verse 8

त्रेधा विष्णुरुरुगायो विचक्रमे ।
महीं दिवं पृथिवीमन्तरिक्षम् ।
तच्छ्रोणैति श्रव इच्छमाना ।
पुण्यग्ग् श्लोकं यजमानाय कृण्वती ॥

Wide-striding Vishnu took three steps across the great heaven, the earth and the mid-region. Shrona goes there seeking renown, making holy fame for the one who offers the sacrifice.

The syllable people get wrong

In trigṃśaddhāma (Verse 3) the sign ग्ं marks the Taittiriya chant sound, so say tri-gum-shad-dhaa-ma with a light gum, not the everyday trimshad. The Rig Veda parallel spells it trimshad.

When the Bhu Suktam is chanted

Weekday. Thursday

Festival. Tirumanjanam, the sacred bath of Vishnu in temple worship

Questions

No. They are two different hymns with nearly the same name. The Bhumi Sukta is Atharvaveda 12.1, in a different Veda and with different verses. The Bhu Suktam belongs to the Krishna Yajurveda, drawn from Taittiriya Samhita 1.5.3 and Taittiriya Brahmana 3.1.2. Of the two, the Taittiriya text is the better known.

Printed recitation forms commonly run to sixteen or seventeen verses. Between the two Taittiriya groups they place a passage to Medini Devi with a Dhara Gayatri, and some add meditation verses at the end. No Vedic source has been located for that Medini Devi passage, some of its lines differ from one printing to the next, and it is sometimes classed as khila, or addenda. This page keeps to the eight verses with a known Vedic place.

Because its first six verses were never a free-standing Earth hymn. They come from a fire rite. Verse 1 places Agni, the eater of food, on the lap of Aditi so that there may be food to eat, and Verses 5 and 6 turn to a fire scattered in wrath, whose fallen parts the Adityas, all the gods and the Vasus gather up. The Samhita's prose then says the Earth herself saw this mantra and food came to her.

Shrona is the older name of the star Shravana, whose deity in the Brahmana is Vishnu. These two stanzas are that star's own verses, which call her the great goddess and ageless wife of Vishnu, and they also appear in their place on the Nakshatra Suktam page. Verse 8 says she goes to Vishnu's three strides seeking renown, making holy fame for the one who offers. Reciters of the Bhu Suktam hear in her Bhu Devi.

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