Upanishads · Chāndogya 2,10.4
॥
Devanāgarī
निधनम् इति त्र्यक्षरम् तत् समम् एव भवति तानि ह वै एतानि द्वाविंशतिः अक्षराणि
Transliteration (IAST)
nidhanam iti tryakṣaram tat samam eva bhavati tāni ha vai etāni dvāviṃśatiḥ akṣarāṇi
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
निधनम्nidhanamnidhana; the conclusion; the dissolution
इतिitithus; how
त्र्यक्षरम्tryakṣaramof three syllables; of three syllables
तत्tatthat; this
समम्samamequal; the equalized
एवevaindeed; surely
भवतिbhavatirevered lady; madam
तानिtānithose; these
हhaindeed; surely
वैvaiverily; indeed
एतानिetānithese; all these
द्वाविंशतिःdvāviṃśatiḥtwenty-two (dvāviṁśati); twenty-two [syllables]; twenty-two
अक्षराणिakṣarāṇithe syllables; the letters
Translation
"nidhana" is three syllables: that too is equal. These, then, are twenty-two syllables.
Version
733539bddde6 · published Jul 26, 2026, 10:40:48 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The last member: ni-dha-nam, three syllables: tat samam eva bhavati — "it is equal of itself": the cadence is in concord by nature. And then the total: tāni ha vā etāni dvāviṁśatir akṣarāṇi — "these, then, are twenty-two syllables": the seven names of the sevenfold sāman, levelled by transfers and by the naming of the remainder, have yielded 22.
The number is no accident: presently (verse 2.10.5) it will unfold into an itinerary: twenty-one steps to the sun, and the twenty-second beyond it. The syllabic book-keeping turns out to have been the building of a ladder: the counter of syllables was constructing, without knowing it, a gangway past the mortal. So it is in all the disciplines of the spirit: painstaking exactness in small things (a syllable, a beat, a vow) secretly assembles the steps of great ones.