Gayatri Mantra: Word-by-Word Meaning
गायत्री मंत्र
Rigveda 3.62.10; its seer is Vishvamitra, by tradition
The Gayatri mantra is one verse of the Rigveda, the tenth verse of hymn 62 in the third book (3.62.10). It is a prayer to Savitṛ, the god who rouses and gives life, often identified with the sun. The worshippers hold in mind his radiance and ask him to stir their thoughts. It is named after its metre, the gayatri, a verse of three lines, and it is also called the Savitri, after its god. This page gives the Sanskrit as printed in Max Müller's 1873 edition of the Rigveda, the meaning of each word, two old English translations, and how three schools read it.
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Verse
तत्सवितुर्वरेण्यं भर्गो देवस्य धीमहि ।धियो यो नः प्रचोदयात् ॥
Tatsaviturvarenyam bhargo devasya dhimahiDhiyo yo nah prachodayat
IAST
tatsaviturvareṇyaṃ bhargo devasya dhīmahi |dhiyo yo naḥ pracodayāt ||
Our explanation Word by word: tat, "that"; savituḥ (said savitur), "of Savitṛ", the god who rouses and gives life; vareṇyam, "excellent, worth choosing"; bhargaḥ (said bhargo), "radiance, glory, light"; devasya, "of the god"; dhīmahi, "may we hold in mind" (Wilson: "we meditate on"; Griffith: "may we attain"); dhiyaḥ (said dhiyo), "thoughts, minds, prayers" (Griffith: "prayers"; Wilson, with Sayana: "pious rites", or understandings); yaḥ (said yo), "who"; naḥ, "our"; pracodayāt, "may he urge on, may he inspire". Together: the worshippers hold in mind the excellent radiance of the god Savitṛ, and ask that he stir their thoughts. The first two lines name what they hold in mind; the third line is the request.
हिंदी अर्थ शब्दार्थ: तत् — वह; सवितुः (बोलने में सवितुर्) — सविता का, यानी उस देवता का जो जगाता है और जीवन देता है; वरेण्यम् — श्रेष्ठ, वरण करने योग्य; भर्गः (बोलने में भर्गो) — तेज, प्रकाश; देवस्य — देव का; धीमहि — हम मन में धारण करें, ध्यान करें (विल्सन: "ध्यान करते हैं"; ग्रिफ़िथ: "प्राप्त करें"); धियः (बोलने में धियो) — बुद्धियाँ, विचार, प्रार्थनाएँ (ग्रिफ़िथ: "प्रार्थनाएँ"; विल्सन, सायण के अनुसार: "धार्मिक कर्म", या बुद्धि); यः (बोलने में यो) — जो; नः — हमारी; प्रचोदयात् — प्रेरित करे, आगे बढ़ाए। भावार्थ: उपासक सविता देव के उस श्रेष्ठ तेज को मन में धारण करते हैं, और प्रार्थना करते हैं कि वे उनकी बुद्धि को प्रेरित करें। पहली दो पंक्तियाँ बताती हैं कि वे किसका ध्यान करते हैं; तीसरी पंक्ति प्रार्थना है।
Word by word
Every word, with its dictionary page
Word by word
- तत् tat · that (pronoun (neuter), accusative singular) Dictionary: tad, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 434, col. 1 “m. he, f. she, n. it, that, this”
- सवितुः savituḥ · of Savitṛ, the god who rouses (genitive singular) Dictionary: savitṛ, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 1190, col. 2 “a stimulator, rouser, vivifier”
- वरेण्यम् vareṇyam · excellent, worth choosing (adjective, accusative singular) Dictionary: vareṇya, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 923, col. 1 “to be wished for, desirable, excellent”
- भर्गः bhargaḥ · radiance, glory (noun (neuter), accusative singular) Dictionary: bhargas, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 748, col. 2 “radiance, lustre, splendour, glory”
- देवस्य devasya · of the god (genitive singular) Dictionary: deva, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 492, col. 2 “a deity, god”
- धीमहि dhīmahi · may we hold in mind (verb, 1st person plural (wish)) Dictionary: 1. dhī, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 516, col. 3 “to perceive, think, reflect”; dhyai, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 521, col. 1 “to think of, imagine, contemplate, meditate on, call to mind, recollect”
- धियः dhiyaḥ · thoughts, minds, prayers (noun (feminine), accusative plural) Dictionary: 2. dhī, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 516, col. 3 “thought, (esp.) religious thought, reflection, meditation, devotion, prayer”
- यः yaḥ · who (relative pronoun, nominative singular) Dictionary: yad, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 844, col. 2 “who, which, what, whichever, whatever, that”
- नः naḥ · our, of us (pronoun, 1st person plural (short form)) Dictionary: 1. nas, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 532, col. 2 “us, of us, to us”
- प्रचोदयात् pracodayāt · may he urge on, inspire (causative, 3rd person singular (wish)) Dictionary: pra-cud, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 657, col. 3 “to excite, inspire”
3 printings differ
Edition differences. Another printing or text reads this place differently.
- The printed edition reads: तत्स॑वि॒तुर्वरे॑ण्यं॒ भर्गो॑ दे॒वस्य॑ धीमहि। धियो॒ यो नः॑ प्रचो॒दया॑त्॥१०॥१०॥ The Vedic accent marks are left out: the svarita stroke above (U+0951) and the anudatta bar below (U+0952). The edition prints them; its accented text is the editionReading. A space is put before the danda and the double danda, and the verse is set as two lines at the danda; the edition runs the verse on, with no space, and breaks तत्सवितु- at a line end with a hyphen. The verse number and the varga number that the edition prints after the verse (॥१०॥१०॥) are left out.
- Addition The 1908 Lahore printing reads: ओ३म् भूर्भुवः स्वः Printed before the verse (p. 98, leaf n117), with a reference to Yajurveda 36.3. The words are the invocation used in daily prayer, not part of the Rigveda verse.
- Spelling The 1857 London printing reads: varenyam Wilson's romanised text (p. 111, leaf n132) ends the word in m; Müller's Devanagari prints the anusvara (वरेण्यं) before भर्गो. Same word.
May we attain that excellent glory of Savitar the God:
So may he stimulate our prayers.1
Footnotes (the translator’s own) - This stanza is the Sâvitrî, the Gâyatrî par excellence, ‘the celebrated verse of the Vedas which forms part of the daily devotions of the Brahmans, and was first made known to English readers by Sir W. Jones's translation of a paraphrastic interpretation; he renders it, Let us adore the supremacy of that divine sun, the godhead, who illuminates all, from whom all proceed, to whom all must return, whom we invoke to direct our understandings aright in our progress towards his holy seat.’—Wilson. See Ṛigveda Sanhitâ, Vol. III. p. 111. ↩
We meditate on that desirable light of the divine Savitṛi, who influences our pious rites.
Sanskrit text: The Hymns of the Rig-Veda in the Samhita Text, reprinted from the editio princeps, by F. Max Müller, 1873. Meanings: written for Pujadeep and checked against the cited edition. Source and changes
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Gayatri Mantra
तत्सवितुर्वरेण्यं भर्गो देवस्य धीमहि ।
धियो यो नः प्रचोदयात् ॥
Tatsaviturvarenyam bhargo devasya dhimahi
Dhiyo yo nah prachodayat
Word by word: tat, "that"; savituḥ (said savitur), "of Savitṛ", the god who rouses and gives life; vareṇyam, "excellent, worth choosing"; bhargaḥ (said bhargo), "radiance, glory, light"; devasya, "of the god"; dhīmahi, "may we hold in mind" (Wilson: "we meditate on"; Griffith: "may we attain"); dhiyaḥ (said dhiyo), "thoughts, minds, prayers" (Griffith: "prayers"; Wilson, with Sayana: "pious rites", or understandings); yaḥ (said yo), "who"; naḥ, "our"; pracodayāt, "may he urge on, may he inspire". Together: the worshippers hold in mind the excellent radiance of the god Savitṛ, and ask that he stir their thoughts. The first two lines name what they hold in mind; the third line is the request.
(Meaning written for Pujadeep and checked against the cited edition.)
Text: Trübner & Co., 57 and 59, Ludgate Hill, London, 1873 (public domain).
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About the Gayatri Mantra
In the Rigveda the verse stands in a hymn of six groups of three verses, each group to a different god; verses 10 to 12 are addressed to Savitṛ. Wilson's translation names Vishvamitra as the hymn's seer. The same verse also appears in the Yajurveda and the Samaveda: Wilson's note gives Yajurveda 3.35 and Samaveda 2.8.12, and the Satyarth Prakash cites Yajurveda 36.3.
The Rigveda gives the verse on its own. In daily prayer it is usually said after the syllable Om and three short words, bhūḥ, bhuvaḥ, svaḥ, called the vyāhṛtis. The Laws of Manu (2.76–78) name these words and speak of reciting the verse "preceded by the Vyâhritis" at dawn and at dusk. The Yajurveda (36.3) prints the verse after the three words, and the Arya Samaj prints it with Om first. These opening words are not part of the Rigveda verse, so they are not in the Sanskrit shown here.
Traditions differ about who recites the verse and how. The law books teach it at the sacred-thread rite, which they give to the three twice-born classes, and families that keep this rule follow it. The Arya Samaj teaches the verse to everyone: Dayananda Sarasvati asked parents and teachers to teach it, with its meaning, to their children. People also differ on whether to add the opening words, on how many times to repeat it, and on whether to chant it with the Vedic accents. This page gives the text and its meaning; the readings of each school are on the learn page "What does the Gayatri mantra mean?".
How to say it
The Sanskrit is shown without the Vedic accent marks that Müller's edition prints; the accented text is kept with the verse, as the edition's reading. In recitation the words join by sandhi: tat savitur vareṇyaṃ, bhargo devasya dhīmahi, dhiyo yo naḥ pracodayāt. Savitur is savituḥ, bhargo is bhargaḥ, dhiyo is dhiyaḥ and yo is yaḥ before the next word. The ṃ of vareṇyaṃ is said as m before bh. The IAST line writes every sound as spelled.
More prayers to the Sun and to Shani, the Sun’s son
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Questions families ask
Who wrote the Gayatri Mantra?
Rigveda 3.62.10; its seer is Vishvamitra, by tradition.
Which text does this page follow?
Sanskrit text: The Hymns of the Rig-Veda in the Samhita Text, reprinted from the editio princeps, by F. Max Müller, 1873. Meanings: written for Pujadeep and checked against the cited edition. See the source
Source and licence
- Text
- The Hymns of the Rig-Veda in the Samhita Text, reprinted from the editio princeps, by F. Max Müller (F. Max Müller, Trübner & Co., 57 and 59, Ludgate Hill, London, 1873). Public domain. The Sanskrit on these pages was read from this printing’s page images.
- Our explanation
- Explanation written for this site from the sources listed here, and checked against the cited edition. It is not a translation and not the only way to read the text. Free to quote with credit.
- Checked
- Checked against the cited edition, October 14, 2026.
- Updated
- October 15, 2026