Surya Namaskar Mantra: Meaning, Translation, Pronunciation, and How to Chant
Jack UtermoehlPeople chant the Surya Namaskar Mantra as a prayer of reverence and gratitude toward the sun, often while practicing Sun Salutations or at sunrise. The twelve lines honor the sun through different Sanskrit names and images, including friendship, nourishment, rays, cosmic source, and light. This publicly taught Hindu solar-devotion practice is widely used in modern hatha yoga. Depending on the tradition, practitioners may use one mantra for each posture or one mantra for each complete Sun Salutation.
The Mantra
ॐ रवये नमः।
ॐ सूर्याय नमः।
ॐ भानवे नमः।
ॐ खगाय नमः।
ॐ पूष्णे नमः।
ॐ हिरण्यगर्भाय नमः।
ॐ मरीचये नमः।
ॐ आदित्याय नमः।
ॐ सवित्रे नमः।
ॐ अर्काय नमः।
ॐ भास्कराय नमः।
Oṃ Ravaye Namaḥ.
Oṃ Sūryāya Namaḥ.
Oṃ Bhānave Namaḥ.
Oṃ Khagāya Namaḥ.
Oṃ Pūṣṇe Namaḥ.
Oṃ Hiraṇyagarbhāya Namaḥ.
Oṃ Marīcaye Namaḥ.
Oṃ Ādityāya Namaḥ.
Oṃ Savitre Namaḥ.
Oṃ Arkāya Namaḥ.
Oṃ Bhāskarāya Namaḥ.
Om Ravaye Namah
Om Suryaya Namah
Om Bhanave Namah
Om Khagaya Namah
Om Pushne Namah
Om Hiranyagarbhaya Namah
Om Marichaye Namah
Om Adityaya Namah
Om Savitre Namah
Om Arkaya Namah
Om Bhaskaraya Namah
Translation
Om. Salutations to the Sun as Mitra, the friend; Ravi, the radiant sun; Surya, the solar deity; Bhanu, the shining one; Khaga, the sky-goer; Pushan, the nourisher; Hiranyagarbha, the golden embryo or cosmic source; Marici, the ray of light; Aditya, the son of Aditi; Savitr, the impeller; Arka, the sun or solar radiance; and Bhaskara, the maker of light.
Each line follows the same pattern: “Om; salutation to” followed by a solar name. Literally, the cycle says: “Om; salutation to Mitra,” “to Ravi,” “to Surya,” “to Bhanu,” “to Khaga,” “to Pushan,” “to Hiranyagarbha,” “to Marici,” “to Aditya,” “to Savitr,” “to Arka,” and “to Bhaskara.”
The names identify the recipient of each salutation. Renderings such as “friend of all,” “one who induces activity,” or “fit to be worshipped” are traditional devotional explanations, not always direct grammatical translations. Hiranyagarbha literally evokes a golden embryo, germ, or womb; broader cosmic readings are theological interpretations.
How to Pronounce the Mantra
A practical approach is one clear, evenly paced phrase per invocation. If you are moving with the breath, mental recitation can be easier than trying to chant quickly.
| Mantra | Pronunciation | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Oṃ Mitrāya Namaḥ | ohm mi-traa-yuh nuh-muh(h) | Keep mitra as two clear syllables: mi-tra. The ā is long. |
| Oṃ Ravaye Namaḥ | ohm ruh-vuh-yeh nuh-muh(h) | The ending -aye is heard across the word as ra-va-ye. |
| Oṃ Sūryāya Namaḥ | ohm soor-yaa-yuh nuh-muh(h) | The ū is long, like the vowel in “flute.” |
| Oṃ Bhānave Namaḥ | ohm bhaa-nuh-veh nuh-muh(h) | Bh is an aspirated b, not two separate syllables. |
| Oṃ Khagāya Namaḥ | ohm khuh-gaa-yuh nuh-muh(h) | Kh is an aspirated k. The ā is long. |
| Oṃ Pūṣṇe Namaḥ | ohm poosh-neh nuh-muh(h) | The ṣ and ṇ are retroflex consonants. Keep the ṣṇ combination compact. |
| Oṃ Hiraṇyagarbhāya Namaḥ | ohm hi-run-yuh-gur-bhaa-yuh nuh-muh(h) | Garbha contains aspirated bh, and the ā in bhāya is long. |
| Oṃ Marīcaye Namaḥ | ohm muh-ree-chuh-yeh nuh-muh(h) | C is pronounced like ch in “church,” and ī is long. |
| Oṃ Ādityāya Namaḥ | ohm aa-di-tyaa-yuh nuh-muh(h) | Keep both long ā vowels and keep tya together. |
| Oṃ Savitre Namaḥ | ohm suh-vi-treh nuh-muh(h) | This form is savitre, not savitraya. |
| Oṃ Arkāya Namaḥ | ohm ur-kaa-yuh nuh-muh(h) | The r is ideally lightly tapped, and the ā is long. |
| Oṃ Bhāskarāya Namaḥ | ohm bhaas-kuh-raa-yuh nuh-muh(h) | Begin with aspirated bh and preserve both long ā vowels. |
Pronunciation Notes
- IAST transliteration is the most precise guide in this article; English-style phonetics are approximate teaching aids.
- In Sanskrit, ā resembles the vowel in “father,” ī the vowel in “machine,” ū the vowel in “flute,” and e is a sustained closed e.
- Sanskrit v is often pronounced somewhere between English v and w.
- Namaḥ ends with visarga, a light breath after the vowel. “Namaha” is a common teaching or musical approximation.
- Oṃ may be pronounced with nasal or closing m resonance. Avoid turning it into a strongly diphthongized English “oh-um.”
- Sanskrit does not use English-style lexical stress, so even syllable length matters more than stressed syllables.
How to Chant Surya Namaskar Mantra
The twelve names form one complete cycle. You can chant them as a sunrise prayer, recite them on their own, or coordinate them with Surya Namaskar.
Begin with the first line, Om Mitraya Namah, and continue in order through Om Bhaskaraya Namah. Chant aloud at a comfortable pace, or repeat the words mentally if audible chanting makes breath coordination difficult. If you use the mantras with movement, choose one documented mapping and stay with it for the full practice.
- Mental recitation during Surya Namaskar
- Audible chanting during Surya Namaskar
- Standalone recitation of the twelve solar names
- Sunrise prayer or Surya upasana
- Group chanting
- Contemporary musical or call-and-response practice
The twelve different names make one textual cycle. In an older Sivananda and Maharashtrian method, one name is recited before one complete Sun Salutation, continuing through twelve complete namaskars. In the Bihar School and Satyananda method common in modern yoga manuals, one line is assigned to each of twelve positions in a single sequence. No universal independent japa count is established for this twelve-line cycle.
A mala is not intrinsic to the documented Surya Namaskar practice because the names are normally linked with bodily salutations or recited once as a twelve-name prayer. The consulted sources do not establish a universal mala convention for the full cycle.
The basic twelve name-mantras are publicly taught and published without a stated initiation requirement. Some expanded forms add bija syllables or other ritual elements; for those lineage-specific forms, follow the guidance of the teacher or source transmitting them.
Mantra at a Glance
| Tradition | Hindu Surya devotion as incorporated into Sivananda, Bihar/Satyananda, and modern hatha yoga systems |
|---|---|
| Language | Sanskrit |
| Form | A cycle of twelve name-mantras |
| Associated with | Surya, the visible sun, and twelve solar names or aspects |
| Practice | One name per complete namaskar or one name per position, depending on the tradition |
| Access | Publicly taught basic form |
Word-by-Word Meaning
| Mantra | Basic Meaning | Grammar / Context |
|---|---|---|
| Oṃ | Sacred syllable or pranava | An indeclinable sacred utterance placed at the beginning of each invocation. |
| Mitrāya | To Mitra, the friend or ally | Dative singular of mitra. Mitra is also the name of an important Vedic deity. |
| Ravaye | To Ravi, the sun | Dative singular of ravi, an i-stem masculine noun. |
| Sūryāya | To Surya, the sun or solar deity | Dative singular of sūrya. |
| Bhānave | To Bhanu, light, brightness, or the shining sun | Dative singular of bhānu, a u-stem masculine noun. |
| Khagāya | To the sky-goer or air-mover | Dative singular of khaga, a compound of kha, “sky or space,” and ga, “going.” |
| Pūṣṇe | To Pushan, the nourisher or prosperer | Irregular dative singular of the masculine stem pūṣan. Pūṣan is an ancient Vedic deity associated with nourishment, paths, protection, and solar activity. |
| Hiraṇyagarbhāya | To Hiranyagarbha, the golden embryo, germ, or womb | Dative singular of the compound hiraṇyagarbha. |
| Marīcaye | To Marici, the ray or beam of light | Dative singular of marīci, an i-stem noun. |
| Ādityāya | To Aditya, a descendant or son of Aditi | Dative singular of āditya. The word later commonly names the sun. |
| Savitre | To Savitr, the impeller, rouser, or producer | Dative singular of the agent noun savitṛ. Savitr is the solar deity invoked in the Gayatri Mantra. |
| Arkāya | To Arka, the sun, a ray, or solar radiance | Dative singular of arka. |
| Bhāskarāya | To Bhaskara, the maker of light | Dative singular of bhāskara, an epithet formed from words for light or radiance and maker or doer. |
| Namaḥ | Salutation, obeisance, or bowing | An indeclinable expression of reverence conventionally used with the dative case, making the phrase mean “salutation to” the named recipient. |
Meaning of the Surya Namaskar Mantra
The Surya Namaskar Mantra is a repeated act of reverence. Each line offers namah, meaning salutation or obeisance, to the sun under a different name. For practitioners, it can provide a way to approach Sun Salutations as more than physical movement: as a practice of attention, gratitude, and bowing.
At the simplest level, the cycle honors visible sunlight and the personified solar deity Surya. The names also evoke friendship, radiance, movement through the sky, nourishment, rays of light, cosmic generation, and the making of light.
In Hindu devotional practice, Surya may be approached as Surya Bhagavan and as a visible manifestation or symbol of divine power. Traditional practice can therefore involve contemplation of the divine sun while reciting the names.
Names such as Hiranyagarbha and Savitr also support broader philosophical readings. Hiranyagarbha evokes a cosmic source or golden germ, while Savitr is the impeller or rouser. These are meaningful traditional interpretations, but each line remains grammatically a simple salutation to a named solar form.
Surya and the Twelve Solar Names
Surya is the Hindu solar deity and the personified sun. In this cycle, Surya is honored through twelve names that draw on a broad Sanskrit vocabulary of sunlight, radiance, nourishment, movement, and cosmic order.
Several names have connections with older Vedic solar divinities or concepts, including Mitra, Pushan, Aditya, and Savitr. Other names are transparent solar epithets, such as Khaga, the sky-goer; Marici, the ray of light; and Bhaskara, the maker of light.
The names should not be treated simply as twelve unrelated gods. At the same time, their distinct Vedic histories should not be erased by assuming they have always been identical synonyms for Surya.
Origin and History of the Mantra
Solar worship, prostration, and many of these individual names are ancient. However, the exact ordered twelve-name cycle used with the modern flowing Surya Namaskar sequence is documented in twentieth-century sources rather than securely identified in a premodern text.
Swami Sivananda’s 1939 Yogic Home Exercises connects twelve solar appellations, pranava, sunrise practice, and Surya Namaskar. The surviving online transcription of its list is incomplete or corrupted. The complete now-standard sequence from Om Mitraya Namah through Om Bhaskaraya Namah is securely preserved in Sivananda’s Japa Yoga by its 1942 second edition.
The modern postural Surya Namaskar was systematized and popularized during the early twentieth century, especially through Bhavanrao Pant Pratinidhi of Aundh and related physical-culture systems. Historical research cited here finds no known premodern yoga tradition containing the modern sequence as such.
Sivananda’s documented approach used one solar name before a complete namaskar. Later teaching in the wider Sivananda lineage, especially through Satyananda and the Bihar School of Yoga, developed the influential system of pairing one name with each of twelve positions.
Traditional Interpretations
Swami Sivananda and the Divine Life Society explain the names as qualities or aspects of the divine sun, including affection toward all, change, activity, light, movement through the sky, nourishment, cosmic containment, rays, descent from Aditi, production, worshipfulness, and radiance. These are devotional explanations and are not uniformly literal dictionary translations.
In the Bihar School of Yoga and Satyananda tradition, the twelve names are mentally repeated with twelve movements of Surya Namaskar. The names are interpreted through twelve phases or moods of the sun and may serve as points of contemplation.
In Maharashtrian ritual-physical culture, one name may be recited before each complete namaskar, making a cycle of twelve namaskars. Some forms add a thirteenth salutation to Sri Savitr-Suryanarayana or use more elaborate bija and grouping patterns.
Contemporary devotional yoga often presents the cycle as gratitude to the sun as a visible source of light and life. This can be a helpful modern interpretation, but it does not replace the Sanskrit grammar or the distinct histories of the names.
Sanskrit and Grammar
All twelve lines use the formula Oṃ + a solar name in the dative singular + Namaḥ. The dative marks the recipient of the salutation, so Mitrāya, Sūryāya, Khagāya, Hiraṇyagarbhāya, Ādityāya, Arkāya, and Bhāskarāya mean “to Mitra,” “to Surya,” and so on.
Ravaye, Bhānave, and Marīcaye use forms associated with i- or u-stem declension. Pūṣṇe is the dative form of Pūṣan, while Savitre is the dative form of Savitṛ.
Namaḥ is an indeclinable expression of bowing or obeisance that conventionally takes a dative recipient. Oṃ is the introductory pranava, a sacred syllable used at the beginning of each invocation.
Variations of the Mantra
Bihar and Satyananda posture-linked form
This completes the twelve-name cycle during one twelve-position Sun Salutation sequence.
Older Sivananda and Maharashtrian form
This approach uses the twelve names over twelve complete namaskars rather than twelve positions within one sequence.
Bija-prefixed form
Oṃ Hrīṃ Ravaye Namaḥ
Oṃ Hrūṃ Sūryāya Namaḥ
Oṃ Hraiṃ Bhānave Namaḥ
Oṃ Hrauṃ Khagāya Namaḥ
Oṃ Hraḥ Pūṣṇe Namaḥ
Some expanded forms add a repeating cycle of six bija sound elements to the twelve names. These are sacred sound units and should not be assigned ordinary dictionary translations.
Thirteenth Suryanarayana salutation
Oṃ Śrī-Savitṛ-Sūryanārāyaṇāya Namaḥ.
This is a concluding or thirteenth salutation in some Maharashtrian and yoga-school forms. It is not part of the underlying twelve-name cycle.
Opening dhyana verse
Some expanded Surya Namaskar services begin with this separate meditation verse, which visualizes Narayana within the solar disc.
Musical namaha ending
Om Ravaye Namaha
The final vowel is a common teaching or musical way of voicing the Sanskrit visarga. The normalized written form is namaḥ.
How This Mantra Is Used Today
The cycle is now taught in yoga classes, teacher-training manuals, devotional recordings, sunrise events, and home practice. Many contemporary postural yoga schools practice Surya Namaskar without mantra, while others use the Bihar and Satyananda one-name-per-position system.
Some practitioners chant aloud while moving; others repeat the lines mentally so that the breath remains coordinated with the postures. Musical recordings may use repeated lines, call and response, or altered pacing, but these are arrangements rather than fixed textual requirements.
The same twelve lines can also be used apart from physical practice. Sivananda’s Japa Yoga directs recitation at sunrise, with salutations and an optional water offering, known as arghya, to the sun.
Related Concepts
Surya upasana · Namaskara · Pranava · Nama-japa · Twelve Adityas · Arghya
Related Mantras
Gayatri Mantra · Aditya Hridayam · Surya Gayatri · Surya bija mantras · Sri Savitr-Suryanarayana salutation
Common Questions About Surya Namaskar Mantra
Is the Surya Namaskar Mantra one mantra or twelve mantras?
It is commonly presented as a cycle of twelve parallel name-mantras. Each line offers a salutation to Surya through a different solar name.
Is the Surya Namaskar Mantra from the Rig Veda?
Many of its names and the wider tradition of solar worship have Vedic roots. However, the exact ordered twelve-line cycle attached to the modern Surya Namaskar sequence is securely documented in twentieth-century sources, not as a hymn directly taken from the Rig Veda.
Should one mantra be chanted for each posture or for each complete Sun Salutation?
Both methods are documented. Older Sivananda and Maharashtrian approaches use one name per complete namaskar, while Bihar and Satyananda teaching commonly assigns one name to each of twelve positions.
What does Om Mitraya Namah literally mean?
Its literal grammatical meaning is “Om; salutation to Mitra.” “Salutations to the friend of all” is a traditional devotional explanation rather than the complete literal grammar.
Why is Namah sometimes pronounced Namaha?
The Sanskrit form namaḥ ends with visarga, a light final breath sound whose practical realization can vary. “Namaha” is a common teaching or musical approximation, while namaḥ is the normalized IAST form.
Are the twelve names the same as the twelve Adityas?
They are related to twelvefold solar symbolism, but the Surya Namaskar list should not automatically be equated with a single universal list of the twelve Adityas. Such lists vary across Sanskrit literature.
Do the Surya Namaskar mantras require initiation?
The basic twelve name-mantras are openly published and taught without a stated initiation requirement. Specialized bija-prefixed or ritual forms may follow lineage-specific conventions.
Can the mantras be repeated without doing the postures?
Yes. Sivananda’s Japa Yoga directs practitioners to repeat the names at sunrise with salutations and optional arghya, independently of the later one-mantra-per-position method.
Can a mala be used for the Surya Namaskar Mantra?
A mala is not intrinsic to the documented twelve-name cycle, and the consulted sources do not prescribe a universal mala count for it. The cycle is usually coordinated with salutations or recited once as a twelve-name prayer.
What are the bija syllables used with the twelve names?
Some expanded forms use the repeating sequence hrāṃ, hrīṃ, hrūṃ, hraiṃ, hrauṃ, and hraḥ. These are bija sound elements, not ordinary Sanskrit words with dictionary translations.
Sources and Further Reading
- Sūryanamaskār: Tracing the Origins of Yoga's Sun Salutation, James Dylan Russell; Journal of Yoga Studies
- Japa Yoga: A Comprehensive Treatise on Mantra-Sastra, Swami Sivananda; The Divine Life Society
- Yogic Home Exercises: Easy Course of Physical Culture for Modern Men and Women, Swami Sivananda; digital transcription hosted by Gurudev Sivananda
- Surya Namaskara: A Technique of Solar Vitalization, Swami Satyananda Saraswati
- The Sun Salutation, International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres
- Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary, Monier Monier-Williams; Cologne Digital Sanskrit Lexicon
- सूर्यनमस्कार (Suryanamaskar), Marathi Vishwakosh
- Surya Namaskar Mantra, Drik Panchang
- The Sanskrit Heritage Site and Monier-Williams Dictionary Interface, Gérard Huet and University of Hyderabad Sanskrit Heritage mirror
