Namaste

What the word means

The word joins two Sanskrit parts. Namah means a bow, an obeisance or an adoring salutation, and te means "to you". Put together, namaste says "bowing to you". Other forms exist for more than one person: namo vah addresses three or more, namo vam addresses two. The Indologist Stephen Phillips points out that te and tvam are the familiar word for "you", the one used for someone close, for a child, or for the divine, not for a stranger. From that he reads a second sense into the greeting, a salutation to the divine child within. The sociologist Holly Oxhandler puts it as the sacred in me recognising the sacred in you.

In the old texts

The greeting has deep roots in Sanskrit literature. A related word, namas-krta, appears in the Rigveda, in the marriage hymn at 10.85.22, where it carries the sense of worship. Namas-te occurs at Rigveda 8.75.10, at Atharvaveda 6.13.2 and at Taittiriya Samhita 2.6.11.2. The term namaskara, meaning homage or reverential salutation, appears in the Aitareya Brahmana, and in the Taittiriya Samhita and the Atharvaveda as well. It also turns up in the Mahabharata and in other later texts. Folding the hands this way appears in temple reliefs and in sculpture. Terracotta figures from Indus Valley sites, dated to the Mature Harappan period, hold their hands in a similar posture.

The gesture itself

When the hands are folded, the posture is called Anjali Mudra. A mudra is a set hand position. The two are not the same thing: Anjali Mudra is silent, while namaste may be spoken with the gesture or without it. The writers Bhaumik and Govil note a small difference between Anjali mudra and Namaskara mudra, in the way the thumbs turn. The Natya Shastra, a text on Indian dance dated between 200 BCE and 200 CE, describes the folded hands as reverential, used to pray before a deity, to receive someone you revere, and to greet friends. It places the hands near the head for temple prayer, before the face or chin for a respected person, and at the chest for friends. Temple architecture texts written after the sixth century CE, and texts on painting called the Citrasutras, describe it too.

Greeting, worship, farewell

Namaste works as hello, as thanks and as goodbye. It is offered to relatives, to guests and to strangers, and it needs no contact. That is why some world leaders used it in place of a handshake during the 2020 coronavirus pandemic. In temples and in formal puja, worship, namaskara counts as one of the sixteen upacharas, the services offered to a deity, and it does the same work as greeting a guest. Old Hindu texts call the guest a god: Atithi Devo Bhava, in the Taittiriya Upanishad. Tradition lists six forms of pranama, or bowing, and namaskara is one of them; in some parts of India the two words are used for one another.

Namaste and modern yoga

Yoga classes in many countries close with the teacher saying namaste and the students answering. The word is also used alone as a meditation, and printed on shirts. Not everyone is comfortable with this. The yoga teacher Nadia Gilani, who is British Pakistani, says the western pronunciation "nama-stay" is wrong, and that South Asians say it differently; in her view the close link between namaste and yoga is a recent western invention. The journalist Neha Tandon calls the shirt slogans a cultural appropriation, however lightly meant. Rita Geno, writing in Yoga Journal, finds the classroom use puzzling and quotes the yoga therapist Susanna Barkataki, who calls namaste a fairly formal greeting kept for teachers and elders rather than a sign-off. The teacher Aadil Palkhivala suggests it suits both the start of a class and the end.

How Namaste is kept

Someone joining their palms at the chest, thumbs close together, brings the hands up as they greet. The head dips a little. The word is said at the same time, and it can also be said with no gesture at all. It goes to a relative, a guest or a stranger, and it is used again when the two part. In a temple or at formal worship it is one of the services offered to the deity. In some yoga classes the whole room says it together at the end.

When and where

Namaste is not tied to a date, a season or a day of the week. It can be offered at any time of day, on meeting someone, on welcoming a guest, and again on parting. It belongs to ordinary speech rather than to the calendar.

It is used throughout the Indian subcontinent and in parts of Asia, and it travelled with people of South and Southeast Asian origin to many other countries. Hindu, Buddhist and Jain households and temples are where it is most at home, and in temples it forms part of formal worship.

What Namaste means

For many who say it, namaste carries more than politeness. It holds the idea that the same divine self, the atman, lives in the speaker and in the person greeted, so that bowing to you is bowing to what is sacred in you. That is why it can be offered to a guest, an elder, a teacher or a deity in the same spirit. It asks nothing in return.

Questions people ask about Namaste

See also

As-salamu alaykumA traditional Arabic greeting of peace exchanged in daily life and prayerAtithi Devo BhavaA traditional Indian Hindu philosophy and campaign that treats guests with the reverence due to deities.PicnicA meal taken outdoors in a park or scenic spot, often shared with friends and family.Akhand PathThe unbroken, continuous reading of the entire Sikh scripture over two days

Good reading and sources

• Here’s the history behind these no-touch greetingsNational Geographic, Article
• Coronavirus: Indian greeting namaste goes globalBBC, Article
• Here’s the history behind these no-touch greetingsNational Geographic, Article
• Coronavirus: Indian greeting namaste goes globalBBC, Article

• Namaste on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• More photos on Wikimedia CommonsPhotos and video
• Wikidata recordOpen data

It may contain mistakes. Traditions differ from one family, village and community to the next, and the people who keep them know them best. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-05.