# उत्तङ्क (uttaṅka)

Canonical page: https://sanskritlexicon.com/word/uttanka

उत्तङ्क (uttaṅka) is a Sanskrit word meaning variant reading, the name of a Rishi, a sage, a Brahma rshi residing on the Meru slopes, the priest of Mandhatri. Its 6 recorded definitions are grouped into 3 contexts, among them Uttaṅka as a Ṛṣi (Sage) in Epic and Puranic Lore, Lexicographical Note on Spelling, Uttaṅka as a Purohita.

- **SLP1:** `uttaNka`  **IAST:** uttaṅka  **Devanagari:** उत्तङ्क
- **Wikipedia:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uttanka
- **Declensions:** 48 forms — https://sanskritlexicon.com/word/uttanka/declensions.md

## Meanings by context

### Uttaṅka as a Ṛṣi (Sage) in Epic and Puranic Lore (4 definitions)
- the name of a Rishi  
  *Macdonell Sanskrit-English Dictionary*
  > उत्तङ्क (uttaṅka) [Printed book page 049-1 ] उत्तङ्क (uttaṅka) ut-taṅka, m. N. of a Ṛṣi. [ ID=4379 ]
- the name of a Rishi  
  *Cappeller Sanskrit-English Dictionary*
  > उत्तङ्क (uttaṅka) [Printed book page 081 ] उत्तङ्क (uttaṅka) m. N. of a Ṛṣi. [ ID=5308 ]
- a sage  
  *Index to the Names in the Mahabharata*
  > उत्तङ्क (uttaṅka) [Printed book page 696-1 ] Uttaṅka (so B., C. mostly Uta°), a ṛṣi. § 11 (Parvasangr.): I, 2, 364.—§ 17 (cf. Pauṣyap.): U. was the disciple of Veda; having resisted the temptations of the wife of Veda, he obtained leave to depart, but first wished to bring Veda some gratuity for his instruction, and having uttered this wish two times, he was ordered to procure the ear-rings of Pauṣya's queen for the wife of Veda. Having met with a bull ( Airāvata ) and a man ( Indra ) mounted upon it, he ate of the dung and drank of the urine ( amṛta ) of that bull, “as his master had formerly done.” Coming to the abode of Pauṣya, he could not discover the queen before he had purified himself properly from the leavings of his last meal. He and Pauṣya cursed one another. Having obtained the ear-rings, U. returned to his master. On the road Takṣaka, the king of the serpents, in the shape of a mendicant, stole the ear-rings and proceeded to Nāgaloka. Indra, with the thunderbolt, made a hole through which U. entered the Nāgaloka, where he hymned the serpents. He there saw two damsels (= Dhātṛ and Vidhātṛ ) sitting over a loom, weaving a fabric with black and white threads (night and day), further, he saw a wheel (= the year) with twelve spokes (= the months) turned by six boys (= the seasons), and then a man ( Parjanya ) mounted on a horse ( Agni ). At the injunction of the man U. blew into the anus of the horse, whence there issued flames of fire with smoke, which were about to consume the Nāgaloka. Page696-b+ 63 Takṣaka then gave back the ear-rings and U. was borne by the horse to his master's abode. His master explained to him all he had seen during his journey. U. then proceeded to Hāstinapura and told Janamejaya, who had some time before returned victorious from Takṣaśilā, to burn Takṣaka, who had bitten Parikṣit to death, and caused Kāśyapa to turn back without relieving Parikṣit, at a snake-sacrifice: I, 3, ††747 ( °nāmānaṃ ), ††748, ††749, ††753, ††756, ††757 ( Utta° also C.), ††758, ††759, ††761, ††762, ††763, ††764, ††765, ††770, ††771, ††772, ††773, ††776, ††778, ††779, ††780, ††787, ††789, ††790, ††791, ††793, ††796, ††805, ††815, ††816, ††818, ††819, ††820, ††821, ††822, ††823, ††832, 833, (836), (840), 848, 849, 850.—§ 56 (Parikṣit): I, 50, 1991 ( ṛṣer U°sya, sc. parābhavaṃ, all. to § 17).—§ 57 (Janamejaya): I, 50, 2014 ( °sya priyaṃ kartuṃ, do.).— § 474 b (Dhundhumārop.): III, 201, 13491 ( maharṣiḥ ), 13492, (13494), 13504, (13505), 13507 (gratified Viṣṇu who granted him boons).—§ 476 (do.): III, 202, 13523, 13524, (13525); 203, 13546, 13550 ( U. urged Bṛhadaśva to slay Dhundhu, but Bṛhadaśva directed him to Kuvalāśva). —§ 478 (do.): III, 204, 13589 ( °āśramaṃ ), 13591 ( °āśramā- bhyāse, there Dhundhu had his abode), 13592, 13594, 13619 ( U. accompanied Kuvalāśva when he set out to slay Dhundhu). —§ 784 b (Anugītāp.): When Kṛṣṇa, on his way from Hāstinapura to Dvārakā, had entered the desert, he beheld U., who enquired whether he came after having reconciled the Kurus and the Pāṇḍavas. Kṛṣṇa told him the matter; filled with wrath U. threatened to curse him; Kṛṣṇa warned U. (who had practised brahmacarya from the day of his infancy) against destroying his penances [by a curse] (XIV, 53 ). U. agreed that Kṛṣṇa should first tell him “that faultless adhyātma”, and Kṛṣṇa explained his own identity with the creator and destroyer of all things. “R., V., Dai., Y., G., Rā., N., and Aps. have sprung from me; etc. Dharma, whose essence is compassion for all creatures, is my eldest-born offspring, and has sprung from my mind; I am Viṣṇu, Brahmán, and Śakra (i.e. Indra).” He always acts as those beings in whose order he lives (XIV, 54 ). U. pre- vailed upon Kṛṣṇa to show him his eternal Vaiṣṇava or universal form, and praised Kṛṣṇa, who granted him the boon to have water wherever he wished for it (water being scarce in such deserts) by thinking of Kṛṣṇa. Once, when U. was wandering thirsty in the desert, and thought of Kṛṣṇa, he saw a naked Cāṇḍāla (mātaṅga ) all besmeared with dirt, surrounded by a pack of dogs, and carrying a sword, and bow, and arrows; from his urinary organs there issued copious streams of water; he invited U. to accept this water; U. refused and even censured Kṛṣṇa, the Cāṇḍāla dis- appeared. Kṛṣṇa came and said that the Cāṇḍāla was Indra, whom he had ordered to give amṛta to U. in the form of water, and that Indra at first had refused to do it, but at last had agreed on the condition that U. should accept it in that way. Kṛṣṇa ordained that on those days in which U. would feel a desire for water, there should rise clouds raining savoury water over this desert and that they should be named U.-clouds; even to this day such clouds shower rain on the arid desert (XIV, 55 ): Asked by Janamejaya about the penances of U., Vaiśampāyana related that U.'s preceptor Gautama, having permitted thousands of disciples to return home, was so pleased with the devotion of U. that he would not dismiss him, even after 100 years, and decrepitude over- took U.; one day when he threw the load of fuel he had fetched on the earth, one of his matted locks, white as silver, Page697-a+ 63 had become entangled with the load and fell on the earth; beholding that sign of old age, U. gave himself up to loud lamentations; the beautiful daughter of his preceptor, at the command of her father, sought to hold the tears of U. in her hands, but her hands seemed to burn with the dropping tears, and she was obliged to let them fall on the earth; the earth was unable to hold them. Asked by Gautama, U. explained the matter. Gautama permitted him to leave him; as U. spoke of the fee, Gautama said that he was already highly gratified and that if U. became a young man of sixteen years, he would give him his daughter in marriage. U. again became a youth and accepted the maiden. As he spoke of the fee to his preceptor's wife, Ahalyā said that she was already gratified. U., however, insisted, and Ahalyā then commanded him to bring her the celestial ear-rings which were borne by the wife of Saudāsa, who had [through the curse of Śaktri ] become a cannibal. Gautama blamed Ahalyā that she had sent U. to the cannibal. Ahalyā said that she had done it unknowingly, and that Gautama would protect U. U. met Saudāsa in a deserted forest (XIV, 56 ). Saudāsa was of frightful mien, wearing a long beard smeared with human blood, and looking like a second Yama; he congratulated himself that he had met U. at the sixth hour of the day when he was in search of food; U. maintained that while one is employed for the sake of his preceptor, one should not be injured; at last they agreed that when he had brought his preceptor the ear-rings he should come back; Saudāsa told U. to go and see the queen Madayantī (near a forest fountain), as he could not himself see her at the sixth hour. Madayantī told U. to bring her some sign from her husband, as these ear-rings, when placed on the earth, would be stolen by the Nāgas, if worn by one who is impure from eating, they would be taken away by the Yakṣas, and if the wearer fell asleep, the gods would take them away; “also the maharṣis and the Rākṣasas watch for opportunities for carrying them away; they always produce gold and shine brightly at night; they protect against hunger, and thirst, and fear, and he who wears them grows in size” (XIV, 57 ). U. came back to Saudāsa, who gave him a sign. When he had got the ear-rings, U. once more came back to Saudāsa, and asked him about the meaning of the mystic words he had caused him to say to Madayantī, as a sign. Saudāsa, referring to his own terrible condition in consequence of his being cursed [by Śaktri ], said that he hoped that this gift to a brahman might save him. U. asked Saudāsa to give him such advice as is approved by the wise: “is it proper for me to come back to thee or not?” Saudāsa said that he would then tell him never to come back. When U., on his way to Ahalyā, having bound the ear-rings in the folds of his black deerskin, had proceeded for some distance he became afflicted with hunger and climbed a bilva -tree (ægle marmelos), hanging his deerskin on a branch, while he plucked some fruits. Struck by some fruits the deerskin fell down, the knot was untied, and a serpent of Airāvata's race carried the ear-rings, holding them in his mouth, into an anthill. Filled with wrath, U. with his staff, pierced that anthill for thirty-five days, desirous of making a path to the nether regions; the goddess Earth became anxious; Indra came there in the disguise of a brahman afflicted with the sorrow of U., and told him that the regions of the Nāgas are thousands of yojanas distant; as U. did not desist, Indra united the latter's staff with his thunderbolt, and struck with the thunderbolt, the earth opened a way to the Nāgaloka Page697-b+ 63 ( c). U. entered the Nāgaloka, very cheerless; then there appeared to him a black steed with a white tail, whose face and eyes were of coppery hue. He told U. to blow into his anus, “which thou often didst at the retreat of Gautama in former days”; the horse turned out to be Agni; U. did as he was directed, a thick smoke enveloped the Nāgaloka, the Nāgas, headed by Vāsuki, gave U. the ear-rings, which he brought to Ahalyā (XIV, 58 ): XIV, 53, 1542 ( muniśreṣ- ṭhaṃ ), 1544 ( brāhmaṇaśreṣṭhaḥ ), 1555, (1556); 54, (1563); 55, (1586), (1593), 1596, 1599, 1600, 1601, 1604, 1608, 1610, 1612, 1614, 1623 ( °meghāḥ ), 1624 (do.); 56, 1625, 1626, 1628, 1630, 1632, 1638 ( vipraṃ ), (1640), (1645), 1653, 1656, 1657, 1660; 57, (1664), (1666), (1673), (1675), 1676, (1678), 1680, 1681; 58, 1692, (1699), (1701), 1721, (1723), 1730, 1734, 1737, 1746, 1750.—§ 784 (do.): XIV, 59, 1751, 1752. Cf. Bhārgava, Bhṛgūdvaha, Bhṛgukulodvaha, Bhṛgunandana. [ ID=11250 ]
- a Brahma rshi residing on the Meru slopes  
  *The Purana Index*
  > उत्तङ्क (uttaṅka) [Printed book page 1-215 ] Uttaṅka (I) — a Brahmaṛṣi residing on the Meru slopes; appealed to Bṛhadaśva of Ikṣvāku line to vanquish Dhundhu (son of Madhu) residing near his hermitage and causing trouble to his peaceful avocations: Kuvalāśva at the bidding of his father Bṛhadaśva killed the asura and earned the title Dhundhumāra. Br. III. 6. 32; 63. 34-60; Vā. 68. 31; 88. 33-60. [ ID=1699 ]

### Lexicographical Note on Spelling (1 definition)
- variant reading  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > (H1) [Printed book page 177,2] उत्तङ्क (uttaṅka) and उत्तङ्क (uttaṅka)- मेघ (uttaṅka-megha) vv.ll. for उतङ्क (utaṅka) and उतङ्क (utaṅka)- मेघ (utaṅka-megha), qq.v. [ ID=31024 ]

### Uttaṅka as a Purohita (1 definition)
- the priest of Mandhatri  
  *The Purana Index*
  > Uttaṅka (II) — the Purohita of Māndhātṛ, the emperor and fifth incarnation of Viṣṇu. M. 47. 243. [ ID=1700 ]

## Sources

Definitions from Cappeller Sanskrit-English Dictionary; Index to the Names in the Mahabharata; Macdonell Sanskrit-English Dictionary; Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899); The Purana Index.
Text from the Cologne Digital Sanskrit Lexicon, University of Cologne.

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