Original text
ॐ तत्पुरुषाय विद्महे महादेवाय धीमहि । तन्नो रुद्रः प्रचोदयात् ॥
Transliteration
Om Tatpurushaya vidmahe Mahadevaya dhimahi Tanno Rudrah prachodayat ||
A Vedic source
Many "Gayatri" mantras circulating today are modern compositions. This one is not. It is found in the Mahanarayana Upanishad, the closing book of the Taittiriya Aranyaka of the Krishna Yajurveda, in a passage that gives a whole series of Gayatris built on the same pattern. The series opens with this one to Rudra and continues with Gayatris to Danti (Ganesha), Nandi, Shanmukha (Kartikeya), Garuda, Brahma, Vishnu, Narasimha, Aditya, Agni and Durga. The same Upanishad uses it again later as the mantra of Tatpurusha, one of the five faces of Shiva, so for Shaiva practice it carries the authority of both.
The Gayatri pattern
A Gayatri mantra is named after its metre: twenty-four syllables in three lines of eight. Devotional Gayatris follow the shape of the great Savitri Gayatri of the Rigveda in three verbs:
- Tatpurushaya vidmahe: "may we know that Supreme Person." Tat-purusha is literally "that Person", the Supreme Being beyond description, and also the name of Shiva's eastern face.
- Mahadevaya dhimahi: "may we meditate on the Great God."
- Tanno Rudrah prachodayat: "may that Rudra impel us", that is, inspire and direct our understanding.
The prayer moves from knowing to meditating to being moved. It does not ask for anything worldly. It asks Shiva to set the mind going in the right direction, exactly as the Savitri Gayatri asks the Sun.
Tatpurusha, the eastern face
In Shaiva theology Shiva has five faces, each with its own mantra: Sadyojata (west), Vamadeva (north), Aghora (south), Tatpurusha (east) and Ishana (upward). Tatpurusha, facing the rising sun, is associated with meditation and self-knowledge. Five-faced lingas and the Panchabrahma mantras of the Mahanarayana Upanishad preserve this scheme, and the Rudra Gayatri is the Tatpurusha mantra. So reciting it is also a meditation on Shiva turned toward the light.
When and how to chant it
The Rudra Gayatri is chanted 108 times on a rudraksha mala, especially on Mondays, through Shravan, on Pradosh and on Mahashivratri, and before Rudrabhishek. Some recite it at sandhya, dawn and dusk, alongside or in place of the Savitri Gayatri. It pairs naturally with Om Namah Shivaya and the Mahamrityunjaya mantra: the panchakshara is a salutation, the Mahamrityunjaya a plea for release, and the Gayatri a prayer for understanding. Because it is a Vedic mantra, those who learned it with svara (Vedic accent) keep the tones, while household practice usually chants it evenly.
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