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Mantra · Cow salutations and Indra's hymn to Surabhi, mother of the wish-cows

Kamadhenu Mantra

नमो गोभ्यः श्रीमतीभ्यः सौरभेयीभ्य एव च । नमो ब्रह्मसुताभ्यश्च पवित्राभ्यो नमो नमः ॥

Also known as Surabhi Stotram

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 Kamadhenu Mantra is

The Kamadhenu mantra, as most people search for it, is a small group of salutations to the sacred cow and to Surabhi, the divine mother of cows from whom the wish-yielding Kamadhenus descend. The page opens with three cow verses. Verse 1 comes from the go-shanti chapter of the Agni Purana, which begins by telling the king that cows and Brahmins must be protected; it bows to cows as the daughters of Surabhi and of Brahma. Verse 2 is spoken by the sage Vasishtha in the Anushasana Parva of the Mahabharata and asks that cows stand before, behind and all around the speaker. Verse 3 is a traditional go-puja shloka, carried in devotional printings, that hails the cow as the giver of every wish. Then comes the Surabhi block: the six-syllable mantra Om Surabhyai Namah, a two-verse dhyanam and Indra's four-verse stuti (Verses 4-7). This Surabhi stotram is shared by the Devi Bhagavata Purana and the Brahmavaivarta Purana.

Surabhi, brought forth by Krishna in Goloka

The Devi Bhagavata Purana gives the account as the sage Narayana tells it to Narada, and the Brahmavaivarta Purana carries the same narrative. In Goloka, Krishna was with Radha and the gopis when he wished to drink milk, and he brought forth Surabhi, with her calf, from his own left side. Shridama milked her into a new earthen jar. The milk that spilled as Krishna drank became a lake a hundred yojanas across, named Kshirasagara, where Radha and the gopis are said to play. From every pore of Surabhi's body came countless Kamadhenus, until each cowherd's house in Goloka had one and cows filled the universe. The Purana says Krishna himself worshipped her first, and it sets her worship on the morning after Diwali night. It also explains how Indra's hymn came to be. In the Varaha Kalpa, Surabhi stopped giving milk for a single day, moved by Vishnu's maya. The alarmed gods went to Brahma, and on his advice Indra praised her with the verses printed here as Verses 4-7. Surabhi appeared in Brahmaloka, granted Indra a boon and returned to Goloka, and the worlds again had milk, ghee and sacrifice. The passage closes by saying that reciting this praise equals bathing at every holy place.

The mantra, in six scripts

DevanagariSanskrit & Hindiनमो गोभ्यः श्रीमतीभ्यः सौरभेयीभ्य एव च । नमो ब्रह्मसुताभ्यश्च पवित्राभ्यो नमो नमः ॥

Tamilநமோ கோப்யஃ ஶ்ரீமதீப்யஃ ஸௌரபேயீப்ய ஏவ ச । நமோ ப்ரஹ்மஸுதாப்யஶ்ச பவித்ராப்யோ நமோ நமஃ ॥

Teluguనమో గోభ్యః శ్రీమతీభ్యః సౌరభేయీభ్య ఏవ చ । నమో బ్రహ్మసుతాభ్యశ్చ పవిత్రాభ్యో నమో నమః ॥

Kannadaನಮೋ ಗೋಭ್ಯಃ ಶ್ರೀಮತೀಭ್ಯಃ ಸೌರಭೇಯೀಭ್ಯ ಏವ ಚ । ನಮೋ ಬ್ರಹ್ಮಸುತಾಭ್ಯಶ್ಚ ಪವಿತ್ರಾಭ್ಯೋ ನಮೋ ನಮಃ ॥

Malayalamനമോ ഗോഭ്യഃ ശ്രീമതീഭ്യഃ സൌരഭേയീഭ്യ ഏവ ച । നമോ ബ്രഹ്മസുതാഭ്യശ്ച പവിത്രാഭ്യോ നമോ നമഃ ॥

EnglishRoman transliterationnamo gobhyaḥ śrīmatībhyaḥ saurabheyībhya eva ca | namo brahmasutābhyaśca pavitrābhyo namo namaḥ ||

“Salutations to the cows, the glorious ones, the daughters of Surabhi. Salutations to the daughters of Brahma, the purifying ones; salutations again and again.”

नमो: namo — salutation
गोभ्यः: gobhyaḥ — to the cows
श्रीमतीभ्यः: śrīmatībhyaḥ — to the glorious ones
सौरभेयीभ्य: saurabheyībhya — to the daughters of Surabhi
एव: eva — indeed
च: ca — and
नमो: namo — salutation
ब्रह्मसुताभ्यश्च: brahmasutābhyaśca — and to the daughters of Brahma
पवित्राभ्यो: pavitrābhyo — to the purifying ones
नमो: namo — salutation
नमः: namaḥ — salutation again

Kamadhenu Mantra lyrics in full

Three salutations to the cow, then the Surabhi mantra, its dhyanam and Indra's four-verse stuti. The printed closing line is given at the end.

All 11 verses, in Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and English, each with its meaning. Choose a script:

Download the Kamadhenu Mantra PDFAll 11 verses with their meanings, in Sanskrit. Free to print and keep.

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Verse 1

नमो गोभ्यः श्रीमतीभ्यः सौरभेयीभ्य एव च ।
नमो ब्रह्मसुताभ्यश्च पवित्राभ्यो नमो नमः ॥

Salutations to the cows, the glorious ones, the daughters of Surabhi. Salutations to the daughters of Brahma, the purifying ones; salutations again and again.

Verse 2

गावो ममाग्रतो नित्यं गावः पृष्ठत एव च ।
गावो मे सर्वतश्चैव गवां मध्ये वसाम्यहम् ॥

May cows be always before me, and cows behind me as well. May cows be all around me; I live in the midst of cows.

Verse 3

सर्वकामदुधे देवि सर्वतीर्थाभिषेचनि ।
पावनि सुरभिश्रेष्ठे देवि तुभ्यं नमोऽस्तु ते ॥

O Goddess who yields every wish like milk, who gives the merit of bathing in all holy waters; O purifying one, O Surabhi, best of cows: O Goddess, salutation to you.

Mantra 1

ॐ सुरभ्यै नमः ॥

Om, salutation to Surabhi. The Purana calls this the six-syllable mantra of Surabhi, and the verse says that for devotees it is like the wish-granting tree.

Dhyanam 1

लक्ष्मीस्वरूपां परमां राधासहचरीं पराम् ।
गवामधिष्ठातृदेवीं गवामाद्यां गवां प्रसूम् ॥

She who is Lakshmi in form, the highest, the foremost companion of Radha; the presiding goddess of cows, the first of cows and the mother of cows.

Dhyanam 2

पवित्ररूपां पूज्यां च भक्तानां सर्वकामदाम् ।
यया पूतं सर्वविश्वं तां देवीं सुरभीं भजे ॥

Pure in form, worthy of worship, granting every wish of her devotees, she by whom the whole universe is made pure: I worship that goddess, Surabhi.

Verse 4

नमो देव्यै महादेव्यै सुरभ्यै च नमो नमः ।
गवां बीजस्वरूपायै नमस्ते जगदम्बिके ॥

Indra says: Salutation to the Goddess, the Great Goddess; to Surabhi, salutation again and again. To her who is the seed of all cows, salutation to you, Mother of the world.

Verse 5

नमो राधाप्रियायै च पद्मांशायै नमो नमः ।
नमः कृष्णप्रियायै च गवां मात्रे नमो नमः ॥

Salutation to her who is dear to Radha, to her who is a part of Lakshmi, again and again. Salutation to her who is dear to Krishna, to the mother of cows, again and again.

Verse 6

कल्पवृक्षस्वरूपायै सर्वेषां सततं परम् ।
श्रीदायै धनदायै च बुद्धिदायै नमो नमः ॥

To her who is the wish-granting tree for all, always and supremely; to her who gives prosperity, wealth and understanding, salutation again and again.

Verse 7

शुभदायै प्रसन्नायै गोप्रदायै नमो नमः ।
यशोदायै सौख्यदायै धर्मदायै नमो नमः ॥

To her who gives what is auspicious, who is gracious, who gives cows, salutation again and again. To her who gives good name, happiness and dharma, salutation again and again.

Closing

इति श्रीब्रह्मवैवर्तपुराणे प्रकृतिखण्डे इन्द्रकृतं सुरभिस्तोत्रं समाप्तम् ॥

Thus ends the hymn to Surabhi composed by Indra, in the Prakriti Khanda of the Brahmavaivarta Purana.

The syllable people get wrong

In Verse 1, saurabheyībhya ('to the daughters of Surabhi') is often clipped to 'saurabhebhya'; say all six syllables, sau-ra-bhe-yī-bhya, with 'au' as in 'cow', a long 'ī', and a breathy 'bh' both times.

When the Kamadhenu Mantra is chanted

Festival. The morning after Diwali (Kartika Pratipada)

Questions

In the Devi Bhagavata and Brahmavaivarta Puranas, Surabhi is the first cow, brought forth by Krishna in Goloka and called the presiding goddess of cows; the Kamadhenus are the countless wish-yielding cows that came from her pores. The name Kamadhenu means the cow that yields what is desired. Verse 1 keeps the family line clear by calling cows saurabheyi, daughters of Surabhi, and Verse 3 joins both ideas, addressing the cow as giver of every wish and best of Surabhi's line.

Verse 2 means: may cows be always before me and behind me, may cows be on every side; I live in the midst of cows. In the Mahabharata's Anushasana Parva, Bhishma tells Yudhishthira how King Saudasa of the Ikshvaku line asked his family priest Vasishtha what is most sacred in the three worlds, and these lines belong to Vasishtha's answer. The epic adds that Saudasa, valuing the teaching, gave many cows to Brahmins.

Devotional booklets print several lines under that name, but they do not agree on the wording of the second line, and none of them names a scripture as its source. For that reason no Kamadhenu Gayatri is printed here. The mantra the Puranas themselves give for Surabhi is Om Surabhyai Namah, which the Devi Bhagavata calls her principal six-syllable mantra and compares, for her devotees, to the wish-granting tree.

Both the Devi Bhagavata Purana (Book 9, chapter 49) and the Brahmavaivarta Purana (Prakriti Khanda, chapter 47) tell the story of Surabhi and carry Indra's praise of her. The four verses here follow the Devi Bhagavata wording. In the Brahmavaivarta the last two verses are divided differently, with a phrase about granting all riches in place of 'sarvesham satatam param', and 'dharmajnayai' in place of 'dharmadayai'. The closing line printed here names the Brahmavaivarta.

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