Karagre Vasate Lakshmi: Lyrics and Meaning
कराग्रे वसते लक्ष्मीः
Traditional
Karagre Vasate Lakshmi is a one-verse Sanskrit prayer said on waking. Before getting out of bed, many Hindus look at their open palms and say it: Lakshmi lives at the tips of the fingers, Sarasvati in the middle of the hand, and Govinda at its base, so at dawn one looks at one's hands (karadarśana).
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Verse
कराग्रे वसते लक्ष्मीः करमध्ये सरस्वती ।करमूले तु गोविंदः प्रभाते करदर्शनम् ॥
Karagre vasate lakshmih karamadhye sarasvatiKaramule tu govindah prabhate karadarshanam
IAST
karāgre vasate lakṣmīḥ karamadhye sarasvatī |karamūle tu goviṃdaḥ prabhāte karadarśanam ||
In simple wordsLakshmi, the goddess of wealth, lives at the tips of the fingers, and Sarasvati, the goddess of learning, lives in the middle of the hand. Govinda, a name of Krishna, lives at the base of the hand, near the wrist, so when we wake up in the morning, we look at our hands.
For grown-ups: our full explanation Word by word: kara-agre, at the tip of the hand (the fingertips); vasate, dwells; lakṣmīḥ, Lakshmi, goddess of wealth and prosperity; kara-madhye, in the middle of the hand; sarasvatī, Sarasvati, goddess of learning and speech; kara-mūle, at the base of the hand (near the wrist); tu, and; govindaḥ, Govinda, a name of Krishna (Vishnu); prabhāte, at dawn; kara-darśanam, looking at the hands. The verse says that Lakshmi lives at the fingertips, Sarasvati in the middle of the hand and Govinda at its base, and so one looks at the hands at dawn. The 1910 book gives it as the first thing to say on waking, while looking at the open palms.
हिंदी अर्थ शब्दार्थ: कराग्रे, हाथ के अग्र भाग (उँगलियों के सिरों) में; वसते, वास करती हैं; लक्ष्मीः, धन और सौभाग्य की देवी लक्ष्मी; करमध्ये, हथेली के बीच में; सरस्वती, विद्या और वाणी की देवी सरस्वती; करमूले, हथेली के मूल (कलाई के पास) में; तु, और; गोविंदः, गोविंद, यानी श्रीकृष्ण (विष्णु); प्रभाते, प्रातःकाल; करदर्शनम्, हाथों का दर्शन। श्लोक का भाव: उँगलियों के सिरों पर लक्ष्मी, हथेली के बीच में सरस्वती और मूल में गोविंद का वास है, इसलिए प्रातःकाल हाथों का दर्शन किया जाता है। 1910 की पुस्तक इसे जागने पर खुली हथेलियाँ देखते हुए सबसे पहले बोलने का श्लोक बताती है।
Word by word
Every word, with its dictionary page
Word by word
- कराग्रे karāgre · at the tip of the hand (the fingertips) (compound, locative singular) Dictionary: 1. kara, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 253, col. 1 “‘the doer,’ the hand”; agra, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 6, col. 2 “foremost point or part; tip”
- वसते vasate · dwells (present, 3rd person singular) Dictionary: 5. vas, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 932, col. 2 “to dwell, live, stop (at a place), stay”
- लक्ष्मीः lakṣmīḥ · Lakshmi, goddess of fortune (noun (feminine), nominative singular) Dictionary: lakṣmī, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 892, col. 3 “N. of the goddess of fortune and beauty”
- करमध्ये karamadhye · in the middle of the hand (compound, locative singular) Dictionary: 1. kara, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 253, col. 1 “‘the doer,’ the hand”; madhya, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 781, col. 3 “the middle, midst, centre, inside, interior”
- सरस्वती sarasvatī · Sarasvati, goddess of learning (noun (feminine), nominative singular) Dictionary: sarasvatī, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 1182, col. 3 “N. of the goddess of eloquence and learning”
- करमूले karamūle · at the base of the hand (compound, locative singular) Dictionary: 1. kara, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 253, col. 1 “‘the doer,’ the hand”; mūla, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 826, col. 2 “the foot or lowest part or bottom of anything”
- तु tu · and (indeclinable) Dictionary: 2. tu, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 449, col. 3 “and”
- गोविंदः goviṃdaḥ · Govinda (Krishna, Vishnu) (noun (masculine), nominative singular) Dictionary: go-vinda, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 366, col. 3 “Kṛishṇa (or Vishṇu)”
- प्रभाते prabhāte · at dawn (noun (neuter), locative singular) Dictionary: prabhāta, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 684, col. 1 “daybreak, dawn, morning”
- करदर्शनम् karadarśanam · looking at the hands (compound, nominative singular) Dictionary: 1. kara, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 253, col. 1 “‘the doer,’ the hand”; darśana, Monier-Williams 1899, p. 470, col. 3 “seeing, observing, looking, noticing, observation, perception”
4 printings differ
Edition differences. Another printing or text reads this place differently.
- The printed edition reads: कराग्रे वसते लक्ष्मीः करमध्ये सरस्वती ।
करमूले तु गोविंदः प्रभाते करदर्शनम् ॥ १ ॥ The book's running verse number '१' (this is verse 1 of its morning prayers) is dropped; the verse stands alone here. - Word The 1916 Bombay printing reads: कराग्रे वसते लक्ष्मीः करमध्ये सरस्वती । करमूले स्थितो ब्रह्मा प्रभाते करदर्शनम् ॥ 'स्थितो ब्रह्मा' ('stands Brahmā') for 'तु गोविंदः' ('and Govinda'). The 1916 digest quotes the verse from the Ācārapradīpa (p. 13, leaf n33, §40 'स्वकरतलाद्यवलोकनम्').
- Word Today's text from Gita Press, Gorakhpur reads: कराग्रे वसते लक्ष्मीः करमध्ये सरस्वती । करमूले स्थितो ब्रह्मा प्रभाते करदर्शनम् ॥ Today's Gita Press book of daily rites (p. 18, leaf n25) prints 'स्थितो ब्रह्मा', as the 1916 digest does, citing the Ācārapradīpa. A present-day Ramakrishna Mission prayer sheet has 'तु गोविन्दः', as the 1910 book does. Present-day texts differ, so the 1910 reading stays.
- Word Today's text from sanskritdocuments.org reads: … करमूले भवे गौरी प्रभाते करदर्शनम् ॥ 'भवे गौरी' (Gauri) for 'तु गोविंदः'. The same site's Marathi page has 'तु गोविन्दः', with Sarasvati and Govinda in swapped places.
Sanskrit text: Bhaktimārgapradīp (भक्तिमार्गप्रदीप), a book of daily prayers, Sanskrit verses and Marathi saint-poetry, edited and published by Laxman Ramchandra Pangarkar, 1910. Meanings: written for Pujadeep and checked against the cited edition. Source and changes
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Karagre Vasate Lakshmi
कराग्रे वसते लक्ष्मीः करमध्ये सरस्वती ।
करमूले तु गोविंदः प्रभाते करदर्शनम् ॥
Karagre vasate lakshmih karamadhye sarasvati
Karamule tu govindah prabhate karadarshanam
Word by word: kara-agre, at the tip of the hand (the fingertips); vasate, dwells; lakṣmīḥ, Lakshmi, goddess of wealth and prosperity; kara-madhye, in the middle of the hand; sarasvatī, Sarasvati, goddess of learning and speech; kara-mūle, at the base of the hand (near the wrist); tu, and; govindaḥ, Govinda, a name of Krishna (Vishnu); prabhāte, at dawn; kara-darśanam, looking at the hands. The verse says that Lakshmi lives at the fingertips, Sarasvati in the middle of the hand and Govinda at its base, and so one looks at the hands at dawn. The 1910 book gives it as the first thing to say on waking, while looking at the open palms.
(Meaning written for Pujadeep and checked against the cited edition.)
Text: Laxman Ramchandra Pangarkar (Mumukshu office), Pune, 1910 (public domain).
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About the Karagre Vasate Lakshmi
The verse is traditional and has no named author. It is read here from Bhaktimargapradip, a Marathi book of daily prayers printed in Pune in 1910. That book prints it first in its morning section, under the heading "looking at the hands and greeting the earth", followed by Samudra Vasane Devi, the prayer to the earth.
Families say the third quarter in more than one way. The 1910 book has "karamūle tu govindaḥ" ("and at the base, Govinda"). A Bombay digest of daily duties printed in 1916 quotes the verse from an older work, the Ācārapradīpa, as "karamūle sthito brahmā" ("at the base stands Brahmā"). Both readings are shown on this page.
How to say it
The 1910 printing writes the nasal before a consonant as a dot (anusvāra): गोविंदः, which the IAST line writes "goviṃdaḥ". It is spoken as the nasal of the next consonant: "govindaḥ". A final "ḥ" (visarga) is spoken as a light "h" with an echo of the vowel before it: "lakṣmīḥ" sounds like "lakṣmīhi".
Festivals whose guides name this prayer
More daily prayers: on waking, before study, before meals and at lamp-lighting
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Questions families ask
Who wrote the Karagre Vasate Lakshmi?
Traditional.
Which text does this page follow?
Sanskrit text: Bhaktimārgapradīp (भक्तिमार्गप्रदीप), a book of daily prayers, Sanskrit verses and Marathi saint-poetry, edited and published by Laxman Ramchandra Pangarkar, 1910. Meanings: written for Pujadeep and checked against the cited edition. See the source
Source and licence
- Text
- Bhaktimārgapradīp (भक्तिमार्गप्रदीप), a book of daily prayers, Sanskrit verses and Marathi saint-poetry, edited and published by Laxman Ramchandra Pangarkar (Laxman Ramchandra Pangarkar, Laxman Ramchandra Pangarkar (Mumukshu office), Pune, 1910). 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 15, 2026.
- Updated
- October 27, 2026