अग्नेः सप्तजिह्वाःThe seven tongues of the fire
Verse 25
काली कराली च मनोजवा च सुलोहिता चैव सुधूम्रवर्णा । स्फुलिङ्गिनी विश्वनिरूपिणी च लेलायमानेति च सप्त जिह्वाः ॥ २५ ॥
kālī karālī ca manōjavā ca sulōhitā caiva sudhūmravarṇā | sphuliṅginī viśvanirūpiṇī ca lēlāyamānēti ca sapta jihvāḥ || 25 ||
Translation
Kālī, Karālī and Manojavā, Sulohitā and Sudhūmravarṇā, Sphuliṅginī and Viśvanirūpiṇī, and Lelāyamānā: these are the seven tongues.
Word by word
- kālī
- Kālī, the black
- karālī
- Karālī, the terrible
- ca
- and
- manōjavā
- Manojavā, swift as thought
- sulōhitā
- Sulohitā, deep red
- caiva
- (ca eva) and
- sudhūmra
- deeply smoky
- varṇā
- coloured (Sudhūmravarṇā)
- sphuliṅginī
- Sphuliṅginī, the sparking
- viśva
- everything
- nirūpiṇī
- who gives form to (Viśvanirūpiṇī)
- lēlāyamānā
- flickering
- iti
- thus
- sapta
- seven
- jihvāḥ
- tongues
Meaning
The seven flames of the fire, by which it "tastes" the offerings. Kālī, the black; Karālī, the terrible; Manojavā, swift as thought; Sulohitā, deep red; Sudhūmravarṇā, smoke-coloured; Sphuliṅginī, the sparking; and Viśvanirūpiṇī, she who gives form to everything. Lelāyamānā, "the flickering", stands at the end of the list as a description of all of them. The Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa gives each a work: Kālī brings the end at its time, Karālī the great dissolution, and so on.
Commentary
Hariharānanda Bhāratī’s Sanskrit commentary, translated
He gives the seven tongues of the fire in one verse, "kālī" and the rest. From Kālī to Viśvanirūpiṇī, and Lelāyamānā: these are the seven tongues of the fire, for taking the oblations.