Upanishads · Chāndogya 1,13.2
॥
Devanāgarī
आदित्यः ऊकारः निहवः एकारः विश्वे देवाः औहोयिकारः प्रजापतिः हिङ्कारः प्राणः स्वरः अन्नम् या वाक् विराट्
Transliteration (IAST)
ādityaḥ ūkāraḥ nihavaḥ ekāraḥ viśve devāḥ auhoyikāraḥ prajāpatiḥ hiṅkāraḥ prāṇaḥ svaraḥ annam yā vāk virāṭ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
आदित्यःādityaḥthe sun; Āditya
ऊकारःūkāraḥthe call 'ū' (ū-kāra); the stobha ū; the syllable ū
निहवःnihavaḥthe summons (nihava — 'a hail'); the call; the invocation
एकारःekāraḥthe call 'e' (e-kāra); the stobha e; the syllable e
विश्वेviśveall; the universal ones
देवाःdevāḥthe gods; divine powers
औहोयिकारःauhoyikāraḥthe call 'auhoyi' (auhoyi-kāra); the stobha auhoyi; the syllable auhoyi
प्रजापतिःprajāpatiḥPrajāpati; the lord of creatures
हिङ्कारःhiṅkāraḥthe call 'hiṁ' (hiṁ-kāra — the opening of the sāman); the hiṁkāra; the initial humming
प्राणःprāṇaḥthe prāṇa; the vital breath
स्वरःsvaraḥsvara; the sounding tone
अन्नम्annamfood; food
याyāyā; the syllable yā
वाक्vākspeech; the word
विराट्virāṭVirāj (virāj — the shining sovereign form); Virāj; the Royally Resplendent
Translation
The sun is "ū"; the call is "e"; the Viśvedevas are "auhoyi"; Prajāpati is "hiṁ"; breath is the tone; food is "yā"; Virāj is speech.
Version
fa71219092e3 · published Jul 26, 2026, 10:34:59 PM UTC
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The lexicon continues: ū is the sun (the high by a high syllable), e is nihava, the call ("e!" is how one hails), auhoyi the Viśvedevas (the All-gods by the most sumptuous of the cries), hiṁ Prajāpati (that very striking-up hiṁ-kāra: the Lord of creatures in the melody's first lowing, before all words!), svara — the tone itself — is prāṇa (sound is breath, as khaṇḍa 3 taught), yā is food, vāc is Virāj (speech is the shining Queen Virāj, a cosmic form).
Mark the pairings of theological exactness: Prajāpati in the striking-up (the Beginning at the beginning!), the prāṇa in the tone (life in the very sounding), food in "yā" (that which "goes" — yā — to the eater). The singing of a sāman, read by this lexicon, is a cosmogram: from the Prajāpati of the opening, through the tones that are prāṇa, to food and Virāj-Speech: a singer who knows the stobhas sings the structure of the world in the spaces between the hymn's words.