Chanda Bhairava Mantra
ॐ ह्रीं चण्डभैरवाय नमःIn Devanagari, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and English — with the meaning of every word, and the one syllable most people pronounce wrongly.
Who Chanda Bhairava is
Chanda Bhairava is the third of the eight Bhairavas in the classical Ashta Bhairava sequence, emerging after Ruru and before Krodha. The name Chanda, from the root that yields caṇḍa, denotes fierce heat, sudden intensity and the ungoverned blaze of impulse. Agamic descriptions give him a tawny or flaming-red complexion, hair that rises like smoke, and attributes that include the sword, trident, skull-cup and goad; his vahana is recorded in several paddhatis as a peacock. Stationed in the southern quarter of the mandala, he embodies the raw surge of wrath before it is either squandered or steadied. Tradition therefore places him at the precise point where anger first becomes visible as a force, yet the texts never convert that placement into a promise of mastery for the one who utters his name.
The Third of the Eight
Chanda Bhairava is known chiefly through the lists of the eight Bhairavas rather than through a narrative of his own. In the standard Ashta Bhairava sequence he stands third, after Ruru and before Krodha, and his seat is the southern quarter, between Ruru in the south-east and Krodha in the south-west. Each of the eight is given a mount: Ruru rides the ox, Chanda the peacock and Krodha the eagle. His name comes from caṇḍa, fierce or hot, the quality the tradition sees in him. No separate legend of his origin is widely told. What tradition holds of him is his position in the circle, his mount and the fierce quality his name declares, and in the full Ashta Bhairava rite he is honoured in turn at his own quarter.
The mantra, in six scripts
The seed mantra, and the form most devotees chant daily. No initiation is required — it is open to anyone, including a parent chanting for a child.
- ॐ
- oṃ — the open primordial syllable
- ह्रीं
- hrīṃ — the hrīṃ seed of radiant shakti
- चण्डभैरवाय
- caṇḍabhairavāya — to Chanda Bhairava (dative)
- नमः
- namaḥ — salutation
The syllable people get wrong
The retroflex ṇḍ cluster in चण्ड is almost always flattened to a dental “nd,” so that Caṇḍa becomes the everyday English “Chanda.” The tongue must curl back for the ṇ; failure to do so collapses the name’s internal heat into a softer, ordinary sound that no longer matches the fierce caṇḍa the texts intend.
When Chanda Bhairava is chanted
Weekday. Monday
Questions
Have your chart read before you decide
Chanting is yours to do, and free. But which deity your situation calls for — and whether a mantra alone is the right response — depends on your chart. Sometimes it is; sometimes it is not.
- Over 30 years in the Guru–Sishya Parampara, from the age of five
- He reads every chart himself — 60 minutes, one to one, never delegated
- Charts are read only between sunrise and sunset, following tradition
Related
Chanting is yours to do. Some things are performed for you.
Where a matter carries real weight, devotees sponsor the homa alongside their own practice. Performed for you and any family members you name, at our Yagna Ashram, in your name and gotra, on a muhurta calculated from your chart, and telecast live so you can watch it done for you.