The Mahamrityunjaya Mantra , also called the Tryambakam Mantra, is a verse of the Rigveda

Rigveda

The Rigveda is an ancient Indian sacred collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns...

 (RV 7.59.12).It is addressed to Tryambaka "the three-eyed one", an epithet of Rudra

Rudra

' is a Rigvedic God, associated with wind or storm, and the hunt. The name has been translated as "The Roarer", or "The Howler"....

, later identified with Shiva

Shiva

Shiva is a major Hindu deity, and is the destroyer god or transformer among the Trimurti, the Hindu Trinity of the primary aspects of the divine. God Shiva is a yogi who has notice of everything that happens in the world and is the main aspect of life. Yet one with great power lives a life of a...

. The verse also recurs in the Yajurveda

Yajurveda

The Yajurveda, a tatpurusha compound of "sacrificial formula', + ) is the third of the four canonical texts of Hinduism, the Vedas. By some, it is estimated to have been composed between 1400 and 1000 BC, the Yajurveda 'Samhita', or 'compilation', contains the liturgy needed to perform the...

 (TS 1.8.6.i; VS 3.60)

Along with the Gayatri mantra

Gayatri Mantra

The Gāyatrī Mantra is a highly revered mantra, based on a Vedic Sanskrit verse from a hymn of the Rigveda , attributed to the rishi . The mantra is named for its vedic gāyatrī metre. As the verse can be interpreted to invoke the deva Savitr, it is often called Sāvitrī...

 it is one of the most widely known mantra

Mantra

A mantra is a sound, syllable, word, or group of words that is considered capable of "creating transformation"...

s of contemporary Hinduism

Hinduism

Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...

.

The mantra reads

"ॐ त्र्यम्बकम् यजामहे
सुगन्धिम् पुष्टिवर्धनम् |
ऊर्वारुकमिव बन्धनान्
मृत्योर्मुक्षीय मामृतात् ||"
(IAST

IAST

The International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration is a transliteration scheme that allows a lossless romanization of Indic scripts as employed by the Sanskrit language.-Popularity:...

 transliteration):

This great mantra dedicated to Rudra

Rudra

' is a Rigvedic God, associated with wind or storm, and the hunt. The name has been translated as "The Roarer", or "The Howler"....

 as Mrityunjaya is found in the Rig Veda.