Tat savitur varenyam
Bhargo devasya dhimahi
Dhiyo yo nah pracodayat
The Gāyatrī Mantra, also known as the Sāvitrī mantra, is a highly revered mantra from the Rig Veda (Mandala 3.62.10). Gāyatrī is the name of the Vedic meter in which the verse is composed. Its recitation is traditionally preceded by oṃ and the formula bhūr bhuvaḥ svaḥ, known as the mahāvyāhṛti, or "great (mystical) utterance".
The Gayatri mantra is repeated and cited very widely in Vedic literature and praised in several classical Hindu texts such as the Bhagavad Gita, Harivamsa, and Manusmṛti. In the Pali Canon, the Buddha praises the Gayatri mantra as the foremost meter. The mantra is an important part of the upanayana ceremony for young males in Hinduism, and has long been recited by dvija men as part of their daily rituals. Modern Hindu reform movements spread the practice of the mantra to include women and all castes and its use is now very widespread.
The main mantra appears in the hymn RV 3.62.10. During its recitation, the hymn is preceded by oṃ (ॐ) and the formula bhūr bhuvaḥ svaḥ This prefixing of the mantra proper is described in the Taittiriya Aranyaka (2.11.1-8), which states that it should be chanted with the syllable oṃ, followed by the three Vyahrtis and the Gayatri verse.
The Gayatri mantra is cited widely in Vedic texts.
The Rigvedic stanza 3.62.10 is found a number of times in the mantra listings of the Śrauta liturgy, where it is used without any special distinction, typically as one among several stanzas dedicated to Savitar at appropriate points in the various rituals. Accordingly, the stanza is cited several times in the Brahmanas and the Srauta-sutras.
In this corpus, there is only one instance of the stanza being prefixed with the three mahavyahrtis. This is in a late supplementary chapter of the Shukla Yajurveda samhita, listing the mantras used in the preliminaries to the pravargya ceremony. However, none of the parallel texts of the pravargya rite in other samhitas have the stanza at all. A form of the mantra with all seven vyahrtis prefixed is found in the last book of the Taittiriya Aranyaka, better known as the Mahanarayana Upanishad
