Unakoti.

Unakoti — The Mountain Where a Crore Gods Became Stone

Hidden among the green hills and forests of Tripura lies one of India's most mysterious and extraordinary sacred landscapes — Unakoti.

The name itself carries a fascinating meaning. In Sanskrit and several Indian languages, Una means one less and Koti means a crore. Thus, Unakoti means “one less than a crore.”

But why would a mountain be associated with one crore gods?

The Legend of Unakoti

According to popular tradition, Lord Shiva was once travelling towards Kashi with one crore gods and goddesses. During their journey, they stopped in these hills to rest for the night.

Before going to sleep, Shiva instructed everyone to wake up before sunrise so that they could continue their journey.

Morning arrived.

The sun rose.

But none of the other gods woke up.

Only Lord Shiva was ready to continue his journey.

Angered by their failure to rise, Shiva cursed the sleeping gods to remain there forever as stone.

Thus, Shiva alone continued his journey, while the others remained behind.

There were therefore said to be one crore minus one gods at the site.

And so the place came to be known as Unakoti — One Less Than a Crore.

A Mountain of Stone Deities

Whether legend or history, what visitors see at Unakoti is truly astonishing.

Across the hillsides are enormous rock-cut sculptures and stone images of Hindu deities. Some are carved directly into massive rock faces, while others stand among the trees and streams of the forest.

The most famous image is the gigantic face of Shiva, popularly known as Unakotiswara. The monumental rock carving dominates the landscape and is among the most striking examples of large-scale rock sculpture in India.

Around it are numerous other images associated with:

Lord Ganesha

Goddess Durga

Vishnu

Nandi

Hanuman

Other divine and mythological figures

Walking through Unakoti feels less like visiting a conventional temple and more like entering a vast open-air sacred gallery created upon the mountains themselves.

Where Art and Nature Become One

One of the most remarkable features of Unakoti is that the sculptures are not enclosed within a museum or palace.

They remain where they were created — among rocks, trees, water and hills.

Nature has become part of the monument.

Roots grow around ancient stones. Rainwater flows through the landscape. Moss and vegetation surround the sculptures. The gods appear to emerge directly from the mountain.

This gives Unakoti a special atmosphere.

It does not feel as though sculptures were merely placed in nature.

Rather, it feels as though the mountain itself became a temple.

An Archaeological Mystery

The exact history and chronology of all the sculptures at Unakoti are not completely certain. Scholars generally associate many of the carvings with the early medieval period, but the site's artistic traditions may reflect influences from different periods.

The scale of the carvings raises fascinating questions.

Who were the artists?

How were such massive images carved into the hillsides?

Why was this remote forest chosen as a sacred centre?

How many sculptures originally existed?

Even today, Unakoti retains an element of mystery.

Perhaps that mystery is part of its enduring power.

A Sacred Heritage of Northeast India

India's great artistic heritage is often associated with places such as Ajanta, Ellora, Mahabalipuram and Khajuraho.

But hidden in the northeastern corner of the country is another astonishing world of stone sculpture.

Unakoti reminds us that India's sacred and artistic traditions flourished across the entire subcontinent.

From Himalayan caves to Tamil temple towers, from the monuments of Central India to the forests of Tripura, artists expressed the divine through stone, architecture, painting and sculpture.

Unakoti is one of the most dramatic examples of this tradition.

The Meaning Behind the Legend

The story of the sleeping gods may be understood as mythology, but it also gives Unakoti a powerful symbolic identity.

A crore of gods travelled together.

Only one continued.

The rest became part of the mountain.

And centuries later, human beings still stand before those ancient carvings and wonder at the imagination, faith and artistic skill that created them.

The legend says that gods became stone.

But at Unakoti, the stones do not seem lifeless.

They continue to speak.

They speak of forgotten artists.

They speak of ancient worship.

They speak of forests and mountains that became sacred spaces.

And above all, they speak of India's extraordinary ability to see the Divine everywhere — even within a mountain of stone.

Unakoti — A Mountain Unlike Any Other

Unakoti is more than an archaeological site.

It is a meeting point of mythology, art, faith, history and nature.

A giant Shiva watches silently from the rock.

Countless divine forms surround the hills.

The forest grows around them.

And somewhere within that ancient landscape survives the old legend:

One crore gods came here.

One alone left.

The rest became stone.

Unakoti — The Mountain Where a Crore Gods Became Stone.

Mahabali. Rakhi & onam

Raksha Bandhan, Mahabali and Onam — A Bond Beyond Kingdoms

Raksha Bandhan is usually known as a festival celebrating the loving bond between a brother and a sister. Yet, woven into India's rich tradition is a beautiful story connecting the sacred Raksha Sutra with Mahabali, the great king of Kerala.

Mahabali — The King Who Gave Everything

Mahabali, also known simply as Bali, was the grandson of Prahlada. He was a powerful ruler, celebrated in tradition for his generosity, courage and concern for his people.

His kingdom was believed to be prosperous and peaceful. There was no injustice, poverty or suffering among his subjects. The people loved their king, and Mahabali loved his people.

But Mahabali's growing power concerned the Devas. Lord Vishnu therefore appeared as Vāmana, a young Brahmin boy, and approached Mahabali during a great sacrifice.

Vāmana asked for only three paces of land.

Mahabali agreed.

The little Brahmin then assumed the विराट रूप—the cosmic form. With one step He covered the earth, with the second the heavens. There was no place left for the third step.

Mahabali bowed his head and offered it to the Lord.

Vishnu placed His foot upon Bali's head and sent him to Sutala, granting him a special place and blessing him for his extraordinary devotion and generosity.

Raksha Bandhan and Mahabali

A popular later tradition tells us that Lord Vishnu remained in Sutala as Mahabali's protector.

Goddess Lakshmi wished for Vishnu to return to Vaikuntha. She approached Mahabali and tied a sacred thread around his wrist, accepting him symbolically as her brother.

Mahabali warmly accepted her and offered her a boon.

Lakshmi then revealed her identity and expressed her wish that Vishnu return with her.

True to his nature, Mahabali granted her wish.

Thus, the sacred thread became more than a symbol of protection. It represented love, trust, affection and the responsibility that comes with a relationship.

The traditional Raksha Sutra mantra also remembers King Bali:

Yena baddho Bali Raja

Danavendro Mahabalah

Tena tvām anubadhnāmi

Rakshe mā chala mā chala

“I bind you with the same sacred thread with which the mighty King Bali was bound. O sacred thread, remain steadfast and protect.”

Onam — The Festival That Welcomes Mahabali Home

The story of Mahabali did not end with Vāmana.

According to Kerala's beloved tradition, Mahabali was granted permission to visit his people once every year.

That annual homecoming is celebrated as Onam.

For the people of Kerala, Onam is therefore not merely a harvest festival. It is also a celebration of the return of a beloved king whose reign has become a symbol of an ideal society.

The famous Malayalam song describes that golden age:

“Maveli Nadu Vaneedum Kalam

Manusharellarum Onnupole...”

“When Mahabali ruled the land, all people lived as one.”

The memory is of a society where people lived in prosperity, harmony and equality.

During Onam, homes are decorated with beautiful Pookkalams, intricate floral designs created to welcome King Mahabali. Families wear new clothes, visit one another and enjoy the magnificent Onasadya, the traditional festive meal served on a banana leaf.

The celebrations express a simple and profound idea:

A great king does not live only in a palace. He lives in the memory and affection of his people.

One King — Two Sacred Festivals

Thus Mahabali occupies a unique place in Indian tradition.

Raksha Bandhan remembers:

The sacred thread

Lakshmi's symbolic bond with Mahabali

Trust and affection

The duty of protection

Onam remembers:

Mahabali's ideal rule

His generosity and devotion

His annual return to his people

Prosperity, equality and happiness

One festival remembers Mahabali as a beloved brother.

The other remembers Mahabali as a beloved king.

And both preserve the memory of a remarkable figure whose greatest quality was not his power—but his willingness to give.

Mahabali's Eternal Lesson

Mahabali lost his kingdom, yet gained immortality in the cultural memory of India.

He is remembered not because he conquered the world, but because he was willing to surrender everything when he had given his word.

That is why his story continues to live through two beautiful traditions.

In Raksha Bandhan, a thread recalls Mahabali.

In Onam, an entire land welcomes him home.

Mahabali — The King Who Lost a Kingdom but Won the Hearts of His People Forever.

This combination makes a particularly beautiful festival article because it connects North India's Raksha Bandhan tradition with Kerala's Onam tradition through the same great figure—Mahabali.

Ghati yantra

Ghaṭī Yantra — When Ancient India Measured Time with Water

Long before mechanical clocks and centuries before quartz oscillators, Indian astronomers had already devised ingenious instruments for measuring the passage of time.

Among them was the Ghaṭī Yantra, a water clock in which the predictable behaviour of water was transformed into a practical astronomical timekeeper.

It was simple in appearance—but remarkably thoughtful in design.

A Bowl That Measured Time

The basic instrument consisted of a small metal vessel, traditionally described as a copper bowl, placed upon water.

Unlike an ordinary vessel that simply floats, this bowl had a carefully made aperture. Water gradually entered through the opening, increasing the weight of the vessel until it eventually sank.

Its complete sinking marked a predetermined interval of time.

The important insight was that the bowl remained at approximately the same level relative to the surrounding water while it was filling. This made the arrangement considerably more suitable for a repeatable interval than simply allowing water to drain from a container whose water level—and therefore pressure—was continually falling.

The Mathematics of the Ghaṭī

The traditional Indian system divided the day and night into 60 ghaṭīs.

Since a complete day contains 24 hours:

24 hours ÷ 60 = 24 minutes

Thus:

1 ghaṭī = 24 minutes

The ghaṭī was further divided into smaller units. A commonly encountered subdivision is the vināḍī, with:

1 ghaṭī = 60 vināḍīs

Therefore:

1 vināḍī = 24 seconds

This is where the often-quoted figure of 24 seconds comes from.

But there is an important distinction.

The historical sources establish the time divisions. They do not provide modern experimental evidence that every surviving or reconstructed water clock maintained an accuracy of exactly ±24 seconds.

So it is more accurate to say that Indian astronomical timekeeping defined and worked with intervals as small as the vināḍī, rather than claiming that a fifth-century clock was proven accurate to 24 seconds.

The Astronomer as Engineer

The remarkable feature of these instruments is that they required more than astronomical knowledge.

The maker had to understand:

the size and shape of the vessel,

the size of the aperture,

buoyancy,

water entry,

vessel displacement,

repeatability,

and the relationship between the instrument and the desired unit of time.

Later astronomical works provide increasingly detailed specifications for constructing such instruments. Lalla, an important astronomer of the eighth century, gives particularly interesting technical details concerning the vessel and its aperture.

This tells us something important about the scientific tradition of India.

Astronomy was not confined to calculating planetary positions on paper.

The astronomer also had to be an instrument maker.

From Timekeeping to Astronomy

Why did astronomers need such instruments?

Because astronomical observations depend upon time.

The rising and setting of celestial objects, the position of the Sun, the measurement of shadows, planetary observations and the prediction of celestial events all require a reliable framework for recording when something happened.

The water clock therefore became part of a much larger Indian tradition of astronomical instruments.

The same civilization that developed sophisticated mathematical astronomy also developed practical instruments with which observations could be made.

The Genius of Simplicity

The Ghaṭī Yantra did not require gears, electricity or a vibrating crystal.

Its essential components were:

water + vessel + aperture + gravity + mathematics.

That simplicity should not be mistaken for primitiveness.

Engineering often begins with finding a physical phenomenon that behaves predictably and then designing an instrument around it.

In this case, the phenomenon was the movement of water and the changing buoyancy of a vessel.

The genius lay in turning that behaviour into a repeatable interval of time.

What We Should—and Should Not—Claim

It is tempting to describe the Ghaṭī Yantra as a fifth-century clock “accurate to 24 seconds.”

That makes a dramatic headline, but the historical evidence does not justify such precision.

A better statement is even more interesting:

Ancient Indian astronomers developed water clocks calibrated to a sophisticated system of time divisions and used them as practical astronomical instruments centuries before mechanical clocks became widespread in Europe.

That is a claim we can defend.

The story does not need exaggeration.

The surviving astronomical tradition itself is extraordinary.

When Time Was a Physical Substance

For the ancient observer, time could not be seen.

But it could be measured.

Water became the moving hand of the clock.

A sinking bowl became the marker.

Mathematics supplied the divisions.

And astronomy gave the measurement a purpose.

From the movement of water, Indian astronomers created a bridge between the physical world and the invisible passage of time.

Ghaṭī Yantra

Where Water Became a Clock — and Astronomy Learned to Measure Time.

Bhimbetka

Bhimbetka — Where Prehistory Came Alive on Stone

Long before cities, books, temples or written languages, human beings were already telling stories.

One of the most remarkable places where we can see this is Bhimbetka, in Madhya Pradesh.

Hidden among the rocky hills are hundreds of natural rock shelters. Early humans lived in some of these shelters and, over thousands of years, painted pictures on their walls.

What did they paint?

They painted the world they knew.

We see deer, bison, elephants, wild boar and other animals. There are also people hunting with bows and arrows, groups dancing, families gathering, riders and scenes of everyday life.

The paintings were made using natural pigments, including colours derived from minerals and other materials available in the surroundings. Some have survived remarkably well because they were protected inside the rock shelters.

A story without writing

The people who made the earliest paintings did not leave us books or written records. Yet their pictures tell us something about their lives.

They show us what animals they saw, how they hunted, how they moved together and perhaps what they considered important.

In a sense, the walls became their memory.

Bhimbetka also shows that prehistoric India was not a single moment in time. Different layers of occupation and paintings belong to different periods, extending from the Stone Age into much later times.

How old is it?

Bhimbetka has evidence of very ancient human occupation, including evidence associated with the Lower Paleolithic. The famous paintings represent several later periods of prehistoric and historic human activity.

This long continuity makes Bhimbetka particularly valuable to archaeologists.

In 2003, UNESCO declared the Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka a World Heritage Site.

The wonder of Bhimbetka

When we look at a Bhimbetka painting, we are not simply looking at an old picture.

We are looking across thousands of years at the hand and imagination of another human being.

Someone once stood before that rock, observed an animal, a hunt or a gathering, and chose to preserve the moment.

There were no cameras.

No paper.

No books.

Only stone, colour and memory.

And somehow, across the enormous distance of time, their story has reached us.

Bhimbetka — where prehistory came alive on stone.

Agastya

Agastya — The Sage Who Drank the Ocean

There are stories in the Indian tradition that seem almost impossible to imagine.

A sage who made a mountain bow.

A sage who defeated powerful demons.

And a sage who, when the gods themselves needed help, drank the ocean.

That sage was Agastya.

The Kālakeya Demons

The Kālakeyas were a formidable race of Asuras who had become a terrible threat to the Devas, sages and the very order of the worlds.

After their defeat in battle, the surviving Kālakeyas found a remarkable hiding place—the depths of the ocean.

During the day they remained concealed beneath the waters.

At night, they emerged secretly and attacked the hermitages of the sages.

Their objective was not merely destruction.

They sought to destroy the sages who preserved tapas, Vedic knowledge and dharma. If the guardians of knowledge were eliminated, the foundations of the cosmic order itself would weaken.

The Devas were unable to reach them.

The ocean protected the demons.

Something extraordinary had to be done.

The Gods Turn to Agastya

The Devas approached the great sage Agastya.

Agastya was no ordinary Ṛṣi. His tapas had given him extraordinary spiritual power, but that power was never portrayed merely as a personal accomplishment.

When the welfare of the worlds required it, Agastya acted.

The Devas asked him to remove the waters of the ocean so that the Kālakeyas could no longer hide.

Agastya agreed.

He approached the ocean.

And then came the astonishing act:

Agastya drank the ocean.

The waters disappeared into the power of the great sage.

The Kālakeyas were exposed.

The Devas descended upon them and destroyed their stronghold. Those who survived fled to Pātāla.

The immediate danger had passed.

But another problem remained.

Where Would the Ocean Go?

The Devas now faced an extraordinary question.

How could the ocean be filled again?

They asked Agastya to return the waters.

But the sage explained that the waters he had consumed had already been digested by his tapas-shakti.

The ocean could not simply be restored by Agastya.

It would require another cosmic intervention.

Thus, in the Mahābhārata, the episode becomes more than a fantastic tale about a sage drinking an ocean.

It becomes a story about the scale of power that Indian tradition attributed to tapas.

The Same Agastya Who Made Vindhya Bow

Agastya appears again and again in Indian sacred literature as a sage capable of accomplishing what appears impossible.

When the Vindhya mountain continually grew higher, threatening to obstruct the path of the Sun, Agastya approached it.

Vindhya bowed before the sage.

Agastya asked the mountain to remain bowed until he returned.

He then travelled south—and never returned.

The mountain remained humble.

Another famous story tells of Agastya confronting the demon brothers Ilvala and Vātāpi, whose deception had enabled them to kill unsuspecting guests.

Agastya defeated their scheme through the power of his knowledge and tapas.

And in another celebrated tradition, Agastya became one of the great sages associated with the southward spread of Vedic culture.

Thus the stories surrounding Agastya share a striking theme:

Where ordinary strength fails, the strength of tapas succeeds.

Power Used for Dharma

The most important feature of the story is not that Agastya could drink an ocean.

It is why he did it.

He did not perform the act to display supernatural power.

He did not seek wealth, fame or authority.

He acted because the sages were being persecuted and the balance of the worlds was threatened.

This is the ideal of the Ṛṣi:

extraordinary power accompanied by extraordinary restraint.

In the Indian understanding, tapas is not simply austerity.

It is the accumulation of spiritual energy through discipline, knowledge, purity and unwavering concentration.

Agastya represents that power at its highest.

A Sage Who Became a Bridge

Agastya occupies a unique place in Indian civilization.

He belongs to the ancient Vedic world, yet tradition associates him deeply with the southern regions of Bharat.

He appears in the Vedas, the Mahābhārata, the Purāṇas and later Tamil traditions.

He is revered not merely as a sage of the past but as one of the great cultural bridges of India.

The north and south, the Vedic and regional traditions, spirituality and knowledge—all meet in the figure of Agastya.

And perhaps that is why his stories became so extraordinary.

The mountain bows before him.

Demons cannot overcome him.

And when the ocean itself becomes a hiding place for evil—

the sage drinks the ocean.

Agastya's greatness was never in the size of the miracle.

It was in the purpose behind it.

He used immense power not for himself, but for the protection of dharma and the welfare of the worlds.

That is why, among India's countless sages, Agastya stands as one of the truly extraordinary ones.

Secret.

 The distinction between Vidhi, Niṣedha, Veda Mantra and Purāṇa is important, especially when discussing Dharmaśāstra and Hindu practice.

1. Vidhi (विधि) — “Do this”

A Vidhi is an injunction prescribing an action.

It tells us what ought to be done.

Example: “One should perform Agnihotra.”

Its purpose is to establish a duty or prescribed practice.

In Mīmāṃsā, Vidhi is especially important because it generates an obligation to perform an action.

2. Niṣedha (निषेध) — “Do not do this”

A Niṣedha is a prohibition.

It tells us what ought not to be done.

Example: a scriptural prohibition against a particular act in a particular circumstance.

Its purpose is to prevent an action considered contrary to Dharma.

So, very simply:

Vidhi → Do this

Niṣedha → Don't do this

3. Veda Mantra — Sacred revealed utterance

A Vedic mantra is not simply an instruction.

The Vedas contain different kinds of passages, including mantras, injunctions, explanatory passages and other forms of Vedic speech. A mantra may:

invoke or address a deity,

accompany a ritual action,

praise,

pray,

contemplate,

or convey sacred meaning.

For example, the Gāyatrī Mantra is a Vedic mantra, but it is not itself a simple Vidhi such as “perform X.”

An important point is that a mantra and a Vidhi can work together in a Vedic ritual: the Vidhi prescribes the action, while the mantra may accompany or identify the ritual action.

4. Purāṇa — Sacred narrative and teaching

A Purāṇa works differently again.

Purāṇas teach Dharma through:

stories of the gods and devotees,

accounts of kings and sages,

cosmology,

pilgrimage,

festivals and vrata,

ethical teachings,

praise of particular forms of the Divine.

A Purāṇic story may illustrate or reinforce a Vidhi or Niṣedha, but a story is not automatically a Vedic injunction merely because it appears in a Purāṇa.

The easiest way to remember it

Term

Basic function

Simple question

Vidhi

Injunction

What should I do?

Niṣedha

Prohibition

What should I not do?

Veda Mantra

Sacred utterance

What sacred words are recited?

Purāṇa

Narrative + teaching

What story/teaching illustrates Dharma?

There is one further subtlety that is very relevant to Sri Vaishnava thought: not every sentence in śāstra has the same kind of authority or function. A passage that praises something, narrates something, or gives an example should not automatically be treated as a Vidhi. Distinguishing injunction, prohibition, mantra, arthavāda (explanatory/praising statement), and narrative is a major part of understanding how traditional commentators interpret scripture.

https://youtube.com/shorts/s3U75_bEyUI?si=LGahtZ5BL2Efb9xA

this is exactly the point that connects with your previous question about Vidhi, Niṣedha, Veda Mantra and Purāṇa.

The Kali-Santaraṇa Upaniṣad gives us a particularly interesting case.

The source of the Hare Rāma–Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra

The Kali-Santaraṇa Upaniṣad is traditionally associated with the Kṛṣṇa Yajurveda. It presents a dialogue between Nārada and Brahmā. Nārada asks how one can cross the difficulties of Kali Yuga, and Brahmā gives the answer: the chanting of the Divine Names. 

The sixteen names are:

Hare Rāma Hare Rāma

Rāma Rāma Hare Hare

Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa

Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare

The Upaniṣad calls them ṣoḍaśakaṁ nāmnām — sixteen names — and says that they destroy the impurities/effects of Kali. It further says that there is no superior means to this to be seen in the Vedas. 

There is an interesting textual point here: some recensions give the Rāma sequence first, as in your message, while others give Kṛṣṇa first. So both orders are found in circulation. 

But is this a Vidhi?

This is where our previous discussion becomes important.

The Upaniṣad does not merely give us a mantra as an isolated sacred formula. It gives the mantra in the context of Brahmā's answer to Nārada's question about the means of overcoming Kali.

So there is an injunctive/teaching force to the passage: it identifies nāma-saṅkīrtana as the prescribed spiritual means for Kali.

But technically, we should be careful about saying:

“The sixteen names themselves are a Vidhi.”

Rather, the Upaniṣadic passage teaches the means, while the sixteen names constitute the mantra/nāma to be uttered.

That distinction is quite beautiful:

Vidhi → the prescribed means

Mantra → the sacred names to be uttered

And where does Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa come in?

This is probably what you are pointing toward.

The Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa is a Purāṇa, and therefore belongs to a different category of śāstric literature from the Upaniṣad. If it repeats, praises or explains the chanting of the Divine Name, that does not mean the Purāṇic passage is the source of the mantra.

The Kali-Santaraṇa Upaniṣad itself is an independent scriptural source for the sixteen-name formula.

So we should not say:

“The Hare Rāma Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra comes from the Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa.”

It is more accurate to say:

The mantra is explicitly given in the Kali-Santaraṇa Upaniṣad; Purāṇic literature also contains teachings concerning the glory and efficacy of nāma.

And this is why your earlier question was so important. A Purāṇa may praise and explain a practice; a Vedic/Upaniṣadic text may prescribe or reveal a means; and the actual sacred formula may be a mantra.

One correction to keep in mind: the claim sometimes made that the Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa is the original source of the Hare Kṛṣṇa Mahāmantra is not the best way to put it. The Kali-Santaraṇa Upaniṣad gives the sixteen names explicitly and is therefore a very important primary textual reference. 

And I think this can become a very good article in your series:

“Hare Rāma Hare Kṛṣṇa — Mantra, Vidhi and the Scriptural Source”, explaining exactly how the Upaniṣad, Purāṇa, mantra and Vidhi differ.

Within ÀLL

Nām Avan Ivan Uvan

Nammāḻvār's Vision of the One Who Is Within All

“Nām avan ivan uvan, avaḷ ivaḷ uvaḷ evaḷ…”

With these deceptively simple words, Nammāḻvār opens an extraordinary window into the nature of Bhagavān.

This is Tiruvāymoḻi 1.1.4, one of the earliest verses in the great work in which Nammāḻvār describes the all-pervading presence of the Supreme Lord.

The verse appears almost to be playing with words:

He, this man, that man, the other man.

She, this woman, that woman, whoever she may be.

This person, that person, those people.

This thing, that thing, whatever it may be.

And then Nammāḻvār takes us far beyond ordinary language.

The complete verse

நாம் அவன் இவன் உவன் அவள் இவள் உவள் எவள்

தாம் அவர் இவர் உவர் அது இது உது எது

வீம் அவை இவை உவை அவை நலம் தீங்கு அவை

ஆம் அவை ஆயவை ஆய் நின்ற அவரே

Nām avan ivan uvan, avaḷ ivaḷ uvaḷ evaḷ

Tām avar ivar uvar, adu idu udu edu

Vīm avai ivai uvai, avai nalam tīṅgu avai

Ām avai āyavai āy ninṟa avarē.

The power of the verse lies in its extraordinary inclusiveness.

He — this one — that one

Nammāḻvār begins with people.

The person who is far away.

The person who is near.

The person who is somewhere in between.

Then he does the same with women.

Then with people collectively.

Then with objects.

He leaves almost nothing outside his description.

Why?

Because Bhagavān is the indwelling reality of all of them.

The traditional explanation describes Bhagavān as the Antaryāmi—the Inner Controller who sustains, directs and controls all beings.

Good and bad

Then comes an even more striking statement.

Nammāḻvār includes:

“nalam tīṅgu” — good and bad.

This does not mean that Bhagavān Himself becomes evil or that good and evil are morally identical.

Rather, nothing exists outside His sovereignty.

Everything that exists depends upon Him.

Everything functions under His ultimate control.

The distinction between what is good and what is harmful remains real for the individual being, but neither lies outside the Lord's overarching reality.

Past, present and future

And then Nammāḻvār embraces time itself.

What has been.

What is.

What will be.

The past cannot escape Him.

The present cannot escape Him.

The future cannot escape Him.

There is nowhere to go outside the reach of the Supreme.

He is not merely present at one particular place or at one particular moment.

He is the foundation upon which existence itself rests.

Why does Nammāḻvār use so many words?

This is perhaps the most beautiful feature of the verse.

He keeps saying:

avan — ivan — uvan

avaḷ — ivaḷ — uvaḷ — evaḷ

avar — ivar — uvar

adu — idu — udu — edu

“This one.”

“That one.”

“The one in between.”

“Which one?”

It is almost as though language itself is running out of ways to describe the universe.

Nammāḻvār is telling us:

Point anywhere.

Name anyone.

Look at anything.

Think of any time.

The Lord is there as the indwelling reality.

As one traditional explanation puts it, the various words ultimately point to Bhagavān because He is the Antaryāmi of all entities.

The great Sri Vaishnava insight

This is where the verse becomes especially profound for Sri Vaishnava thought.

The world is not God.

A human being is not God.

An object is not God.

Yet nothing exists independently of God.

Bhagavān is the Inner Ruler and Sustainer.

The individual soul remains an individual soul.

Matter remains matter.

Bhagavān remains Bhagavān.

Yet all are inseparably dependent upon Him.

This is one of the profound ideas expressed through the Sri Vaishnava understanding of śarīra–śarīrī bhāva: the universe and all individual selves are related to Bhagavān as the body is related to its indwelling Self.

And now our earlier thought returns

This verse also brings us naturally back to the expression.

Aghaṭita Ghaṭanā Sāmarthya.

The Lord whose greatness cannot be contained by our ordinary categories can simultaneously be:

beyond everything — and within everything.

He is transcendent.

He is immanent.

He is infinite.

And yet He enters into relationship with every individual being.

The One beyond the universe is also the One within the smallest being.

That is the wonder.

There is also a lesson for us

If the same Bhagavān is the Inner Controller of all beings, then how should we look at another person?

Not merely as a stranger.

Not merely as someone different from ourselves.

But as a jīva whose inner ruler is Bhagavān Himself.

This does not erase differences between people.

It transforms the way we see those differences.

Every person becomes worthy of respect.

Every living being becomes part of a larger divine order.

The world becomes not merely a collection of objects, but a creation permeated by the presence and governance of the Lord.

Nammāḻvār's extraordinary simplicity

There is no elaborate philosophical argument here.

No complicated terminology.

Only a series of ordinary words:

this…

that…

he…

she…

this thing…

that thing…

past…

present…

future…

And then the extraordinary conclusion:

Āy ninṟa avarē.

He stands as all these.

The great poet has taken the entire universe and compressed it into a few lines.

One final thought

We often search for Bhagavān somewhere far away—

in a distant heaven,

in a sacred place,

in a temple,

in a pilgrimage.

Nammāḻvār does not deny any of these.

But he asks us to see something even deeper.

Wherever you look, He is already there.

The person before you.

The person far away.

The living being beside you.

The world around you.

What has passed.

What is happening now.

What is yet to come.

All exist under His sovereignty.

And within all, He remains the Antaryāmi.

That is the breathtaking vision of Nammāḻvār:

“Nām avan ivan uvan…”

Look wherever you will.

He is already there.

And perhaps that is the true wonder of Aghaṭita Ghaṭanā Sāmarthya:

The One who is beyond everything

chooses to be within everything—

without ever ceasing to be the Supreme.