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Mantra · Three Taittiriya passages joined: serpents, Ashlesha, Indra's call

Sarpa Suktam

नमो अस्तु सर्पेभ्यो ये के च पृथिवीमनु । ये अन्तरिक्षे ये दिवि तेभ्यः सर्पेभ्यो नमः ॥

Also known as Namo Astu Sarpebhyo

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 Sarpa Suktam is

The Sarpa Suktam, the Vedic salutation to the serpents that opens 'Namo astu sarpebhyo', is not one hymn of the Veda but three passages of the Krishna Yajurveda's Taittiriya school, chanted as one. Verses 1-3 close Taittiriya Samhita 4.2.8 and hail the serpents of earth, mid-air and sky, of the sun's rays, the waters, the trees and the hollows in the ground. Verses 4-5 are the Ashlesha lines of the Nakshatra Suktam, Taittiriya Brahmana 3.1.1.5-6, which offer honeyed oblation to the serpents as the rulers of that star. Verses 6-8 come from Taittiriya Aranyaka 1.12 and turn to Indra and his retinue. The chant stops at the third 'subrahmanyom', although the Aranyaka paragraph runs on. No author is named. The page prints the text without accent marks; chanting with the svaras is learned from a teacher.

Holding the worlds from gliding away

The three verses that open the chant have a parallel in the White Yajurveda (Vajasaneyi Samhita 13.6-8), and the Shatapatha Brahmana (7.4.1.25-31) explains why they are said. They belong to the piling of the great fire altar. When a golden human figure has been laid in the altar, the sacrificer stands beside it and salutes with these verses. The Brahmana reasons from a pun: serpents are the worlds, since sarpa comes from sarp, to glide, and the worlds glide along with all they hold. The gods, having laid their own self on the altar, feared the worlds would slide away with it. They saw these formulas, and with them stopped the worlds and made them bow, which the text hears in the name Sarpanama, from nam, to bend. The sacrificer does the same, and whatever fiend or devourer lives in those worlds is appeased. There are three verses, the Brahmana notes, because the worlds are three, and they are said standing, because the worlds stand. The other two passages have settings of their own. The Ashlesha lines served the rite that gave each star its oblation, and the Aranyaka lines picture gods arriving in procession. When the three parts were first joined is not recorded.

The mantra, in six scripts

DevanagariSanskrit & Hindiनमो अस्तु सर्पेभ्यो ये के च पृथिवीमनु । ये अन्तरिक्षे ये दिवि तेभ्यः सर्पेभ्यो नमः ॥

Tamilநமோ அஸ்து ஸர்பேப்யோ யே கே ச ப்ருதிவீமநு । யே அந்தரிக்ஷே யே திவி தேப்யஃ ஸர்பேப்யோ நமஃ ॥

Teluguనమో అస్తు సర్పేభ్యో యే కే చ పృథివీమను । యే అన్తరిక్షే యే దివి తేభ్యః సర్పేభ్యో నమః ॥

Kannadaನಮೋ ಅಸ್ತು ಸರ್ಪೇಭ್ಯೋ ಯೇ ಕೇ ಚ ಪೃಥಿವೀಮನು । ಯೇ ಅನ್ತರಿಕ್ಷೇ ಯೇ ದಿವಿ ತೇಭ್ಯಃ ಸರ್ಪೇಭ್ಯೋ ನಮಃ ॥

Malayalamനമോ അസ്തു സര്പേഭ്യോ യേ കേ ച പൃഥിവീമനു । യേ അന്തരിക്ഷേ യേ ദിവി തേഭ്യഃ സര്പേഭ്യോ നമഃ ॥

EnglishRoman transliterationnamo astu sarpebhyo ye ke ca pṛthivīmanu | ye antarikṣe ye divi tebhyaḥ sarpebhyo namaḥ ||

“Salutation to the serpents, whichever move along the earth; to those in the mid-air and those in the sky, to those serpents, salutation.”

नमो: namo — salutation
अस्तु: astu — let there be
सर्पेभ्यो: sarpebhyo — to the serpents
ये: ye — those who
के: ke — whichever
च: ca — and, any
पृथिवीमनु: pṛthivīmanu — along the earth
ये: ye — those who
अन्तरिक्षे: antarikṣe — in the mid-air
ये: ye — those who
दिवि: divi — in the sky
तेभ्यः: tebhyaḥ — to those
सर्पेभ्यो: sarpebhyo — to the serpents
नमः: namaḥ — salutation

Sarpa Suktam lyrics in full

The three Taittiriya passages in the order they are chanted, eight verses in all, ending at the threefold 'subrahmanyom'.

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

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

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Verse 1

नमो अस्तु सर्पेभ्यो ये के च पृथिवीमनु ।
ये अन्तरिक्षे ये दिवि तेभ्यः सर्पेभ्यो नमः ॥

Salutation to the serpents, whichever move along the earth; to those in the mid-air and those in the sky, to those serpents, salutation.

Verse 2

येऽदो रोचने दिवो ये वा सूर्यस्य रश्मिषु ।
येषामप्सु सदः कृतं तेभ्यः सर्पेभ्यो नमः ॥

Those in the bright realm of heaven up there, or in the rays of the sun; those whose seat is made in the waters, to those serpents, salutation.

Verse 3

या इषवो यातुधानानां ये वा वनस्पतींरनु ।
ये वाऽवटेषु शेरते तेभ्यः सर्पेभ्यो नमः ॥

Those that are the arrows of the sorcerers, or those that live along the trees, or those that lie in holes in the ground: to those serpents, salutations.

Verse 4

इदं सर्पेभ्यो हविरस्तु जुष्टम् ।
आश्रेषा येषामनुयन्ति चेतः ।
ये अन्तरिक्षं पृथिवीं क्षियन्ति ।
ते नः सर्पासो हवमागमिष्ठाः ॥

May this offering be pleasing to the serpents, whose thought the Ashlesha stars follow. Those who dwell in the mid-air and on the earth, may those serpents come to our call.

Verse 5

ये रोचने सूर्यस्यापि सर्पाः ।
ये दिवं देवीमनु संचरन्ति ।
येषामाश्रेषा अनुयन्ति कामम् ।
तेभ्यः सर्पेभ्यो मधुमज्जुहोमि ॥

Serpents who are in the brightness of the sun, those who move along the shining sky, whose wish the Ashlesha stars follow: to those serpents I offer this honeyed oblation.

Verse 6

निघृष्वैरसमायुतैः ।
कालैर्हरित्वमापन्नैः ।
इन्द्रायाहि सहस्रयुक् ॥

With swift horses beyond compare, dark ones turned golden, come here, Indra, you who are drawn by a thousand.

Verse 7

अग्निर्विभ्राष्टिवसनः ।
वायुः श्वेतसिकद्रुकः ।
संवथ्सरो विषूवर्णैः ।
नित्यास्तेऽनुचरास्तव ॥

Agni is clothed in glowing light, Vayu in pale white, and the Year in many colours. These are ever your attendants.

Verse 8

सुब्रह्मण्यों सुब्रह्मण्यों सुब्रह्मण्योम् ॥

Subrahmanyom, Subrahmanyom, Subrahmanyom: a ritual call, given three times.

The syllable people get wrong

Verses 4 and 5 give the star's name as āśreṣā, with an r, not the later spelling Ashlesha. Say it aa-SHRAY-shaa: a long first vowel, then a clear r inside the 'shr' cluster, with no l.

Questions

The Krishna Yajurveda, in the Taittiriya school, but from three of its books rather than one chapter. Verses 1-3 are Taittiriya Samhita 4.2.8, verses 4-5 are Taittiriya Brahmana 3.1.1.5-6, and verses 6-8 are Taittiriya Aranyaka 1.12, paragraph 58. The first three verses are also counted among the Udaka Shanti mantras. No Vedic book prints the eight together; the joining belongs to the chanting tradition.

In the Aranyaka the word opens the subrahmanya call of the Soma rite, a summons to Indra given three times by the priest of that name. The next words of the paragraph, not chanted here, are 'Indra, come; come, you of the bay horses'. Followers of the Krishna Yajurveda use the Sarpa Suktam as a hymn to Subrahmanya, probably because of this ending, and tradition in South India links Skanda closely with serpents.

It says 'those that are the arrows of the sorcerers'. A yatudhana is a sorcerer or demon, and ishu an arrow. The Shatapatha Brahmana reads the line literally: some serpents bite because demons send them. The verse then adds those along the trees and those lying in holes, so that nothing dangerous is left unsaluted. The word for hole, avata, is why this printing has the avagraha in 'va'vateshu'; some printings run the letters as 'va vateshu'.

No. 'Brahmalokeshu ye sarpah' is a later stotra of eleven verses that goes by the same name and is common in Naga puja books; it names serpents by the realm they live in and has no Vedic location. Some printings also mix Rigveda Khila verses into a twelve-verse form. The Nava Naga Stotram is a separate verse of nine names. This page prints only the Taittiriya form.

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