Arsenal’s Theo Walcott’s New Sanskrit Tattoo is Jacked Up

Theo Walcott’s tattoo begins just below the base of his neck and the characters were meant to translate to “Om Namah Shivaya,” which is one of the most well-known mantras of Hinduism, intended as an appeal to Lord Shiva, a powerful deity of the Hindu Trinity. The literal translation of Om Namah Shivaya is “I offer to Shiva a respectful invocation of His name,” and the mantra, associated with grace, truth, divine love and blissfulness, is recited by yogis in meditation and sung by devotees in prayers. Traditionally, the Om Namah Shivaya is believed to be a powerful healing mantra beneficial not only for physical and mental ailments, but also as a means of bringing peace to the heart and joy to the soul. Unfortunately for Walcott, his back tattoo contains a grammatical error that gives it a completely different meaning.

If Walcott thought he could get away with inking a misspelled Sanskrit tattoo on his back, he couldn’t have been more wrong. One Tanuj Baru even went so far as to “correct” Walcott’s tattoo with some quick Photoshop skills, airbrushing out the fourth character in the chant and leaving just six in total. Baru tweeted at Walcott, writing, “Your tattoo guy kinda messed up, y’know. This is what it should have been.” Several others chimed in, writing “Yep. Whoever did the tattoo doesn’t know [Devanagari] properly,” and “Mate your tattoo artist destroyed it completely […] Why you didn’t try an Indian artist for this tattoo.” According to a couple of Arsenal fans and Sanskrit experts on Twitter, the misspelling of the “shivaya” as “shavaya” in Walcott’s “Om Namah Shivaya” tattoo changes the meaning dramatically – from God’s name to “dead body.”

Theo Walcott is having a bit of a tough time this year–his spot in Arsenal’s starting lineup is currently in question amid competition from other players–and it appears the 28-year-old may be hoping for divine intervention in getting his career back on track. Unfortunately, rather than an appeal to Lord Shiva for physical and mental health, and “everlasting joy and happiness,” as he put it, Walcott’s back tattoo is an appeal to, well, dead bodies. Just for the record, Theo Walcott also has the words “Beautiful, Blessed, Strong, Intelligent” inked in Sanskrit on his wrist. We’d be curious to find out what that tattoo actually says.