Ugram Veeram – Narasimha Sloka : Learn Sanskrit – 17

Welcome to the series of learning Sanskrit through Slokas! Today let’s learn to pronounce and understand the meaning of a powerful Narasimha Sloka – ‘Ugram Veeram’.  As we are all aware, Lord Narasimha is the ferocious manifestation of Lord Vishnu who came to the rescue of his beloved devotee Prahlada from the atrocities committed by his father and demon Hiranyakashibu.

Here is the sloka.

ugram veeram mahavishnum jvalantam sarvatomukham |
nrusimham bheeshanam bhadram mrutyumrutyum namamyaham ||

उग्रं वीरं महाविष्णुं ज्वलन्तं सर्वतोमुखम्।
नृसिंहं भीषणं भद्रं मृत्युमृत्युं नमाम्यहम् ॥

Here is the word by word meaning:

ugram veeram mahavishnum

• ugram – ugra means, ‘the ferocious one’
• veeram – this term is self-explanatory and indicates ‘the courageous one’
• mahavishnum – the all-pervasive one (Lord Maha Vishnu)

jvalantam sarvatomukham 

• jvalantam – shining bright like the fire (jvaalaa – flame)
• sarvatomukham – Having his face (mukham) everywhere (manifested everywhere in the Universe)

nrusimham bheeshanam bhadram

• nrusimham   – The Lion-Headed and Human-bodied God (nru – human, simha – Lion) . Three Simhas are described in the Avatars –   Narasimha, Raghavasimha (Lord Rama) and Yadavasimha (Lord Krishna).
• bheeshanam  – fear-inducing (bheethi/bhaya – fear)
• bhadram  –  auspicious

It is interesting to see the usage of phrases, fear-inducing and auspicious alongside each other. The Lord is fear-inducing to his enemies – the Demons while being gentle and auspicious to his devotees like Prahlada.

mrutyumrutyum namamyaham

• mrutyumrutyum – death of death himself. Here it means conqueror of death
• namami aham –  I (aham) salute (nama – to salute/pray)

The full meaning of this Sloka would be, ‘I bow down to Lord Narasimha who is ferocious and brave and the manifestation of the all-pervasive Lord Mahavishnu. He is full of effulgence, fear-inducing and auspicious and the vanquisher of death.’

This Narasimha sloka is a very powerful one which can help people who are suffering from  financial difficulties and also physical and mental illnesses. Let’s all pray to Lord Lakshmi Narasimha and get His shower of blessings!

You can read the meaning of other slokas here.