Katy Perry and Sanskrit Tattoos

Reading my Cosmo magazine this month (yes, I love Cosmo. Shut up) I noticed Devanagari on Katy Perry’s arm. The image wasn’t clear enough for me to make it out.

So I went online to find out what her tattoo is (or is supposed to be, anyway).

Interetingly, the two sites that came up first in a search don’t transliterate the script correctly at all.

Look at the close up image here:

Notice that it says “Anugacchatu Pravahan” which that site gives as “Anuugacchati Pravaha.” But that’s a pretty minor difference when you look at this site that seems to claim the Devanagari is: प्रवाहेण सह गच्छ Yeah, that would be “Pravahena Saha Gaccha” Some similarity, but not actually at all the tattoo in the picture.

Both sites say the tattoo means “Go with the flow.” I don’t know Sanskrit, so I can’t say if that’s true or not (but chances are if you’re getting a tattoo in a language you yourself don’t know you are not likely to get quite the right thing!)

So, my friends who know Sanskrit, does her tattoo say what she thinks it does?