Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya
The twelve-syllable Vishnu mantra that opens the Bhagavata Purana.
Bhagavata Purana 1.1.1edition
Sanskrit · संस्कृत
No verified recitation yet. We publish audio only with a named reciter and a recorded licence, rather than files of unknown provenance.
Meaning
Salutation to the Lord Vasudeva.
This rendering is by a DharmSetu editor, not a quotation from a published translation. Compare with the public-domain translation.
A Hindi meaning has not been written for this mantra yet. Hindi is authored by a named editor rather than machine-translated, so it arrives more slowly.
How to recite
- Repetitions
- 12 · 108
- Mala
- tulsi
Pronunciation key — sounds commonly got wrong
- ट ठ ड ढ ण · ṭ ṭh ḍ ḍh ṇ
- Retroflex — the tongue curls back and touches the roof of the mouth. Distinct from the dental त थ द ध न, where the tongue touches the teeth.
- श ष स · ś ṣ s
- Three different sounds: ś as in “shy”, ṣ retroflex and further back, s plain. Collapsing them changes words.
- ः · ḥ (visarga)
- A soft outward breath echoing the preceding vowel — not a hard “ha”.
- ं · ṃ (anusvara)
- Nasalises the vowel; the closing sound follows the consonant that comes next.
- Long vs short vowels — a / ā, i / ī, u / ū
- Vowel length is meaningful in Sanskrit. Hold the macron vowels roughly twice as long.
- Aspirated consonants — kh, gh, ch, th, dh, ph, bh
- A distinct puff of breath. ph is an aspirated p, never an English “f”.
Context
Shadanga — the six limbs
The traditional analytic frame for a mantra. Blank limbs are simply not recorded for this text.
- devata
- Vasudeva (Vishnu)
Recited at / traditionally recited for
Classified as Pauranic — From the Puranas. Most widely recited deity mantras belong here. Basis for this classification.
Related mantras
Sangachhadhvam Samvadadhvam
The closing hymn of the Rigveda, on moving together and speaking together — Rigveda 10.191.2.
Bhadram Karnebhih
A prayer to hear what is good and see what is good, with steady limbs — Rigveda 1.89.8.
Dyauh Shantih — the great peace invocation
Peace called down through sky, air, earth, waters, plants and all beings — Shukla Yajurveda 36.17.
Purusha Sukta — opening verse
The thousand-headed Purusha — the first verse of the Purusha Sukta, Rigveda 10.90.1.
Gayatri Mantra
The most widely recited Vedic verse, addressed to the light of the sun — Rigveda 3.62.10.
Mahamrityunjaya Mantra
The Tryambaka verse of the Rigveda, addressed to Rudra — a prayer for release, likening it to a ripe fruit loosening from its stem.