Upanishads · Chāndogya 2,19.1
॥
Devanāgarī
लोम हिङ्कारः त्वक् प्रस्तावः मांसम् उद्गीथः अस्थि प्रतिहारः मज्जा निधनम् एतत् यज्ञायज्ञीयम् अङ्गेषु प्रोतम्
Transliteration (IAST)
loma hiṅkāraḥ tvak prastāvaḥ māṃsam udgīthaḥ asthi pratihāraḥ majjā nidhanam etat yajñāyajñīyam aṅgeṣu protam
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
लोमlomathe hairs (loman); hair; tresses
हिङ्कारःhiṅkāraḥhiṅkāra; the opening call hiṅ
त्वक्tvakthe skin; touch
प्रस्तावःprastāvaḥprastāva; the opening part of the sāman
मांसम्māṃsamflesh (māṁsa); meat; the muscle
उद्गीथःudgīthaḥudgītha; the exalted chant
अस्थिasthibone (asthi); the bones; the skeleton
प्रतिहारःpratihāraḥpratihāra; the responding part
मज्जाmajjāthe marrow (majjan); the marrow of the bones; the pith of the bone
निधनम्nidhanamnidhana; the conclusion; the dissolution
एतत्etatthis; all this
यज्ञायज्ञीयम्yajñāyajñīyamthe yajñāyajñīya (yajñāyajñīya — the closing sāman of the agniṣṭoma); the sacrificial chant; the yajñāyajñīya sāman
अङ्गेषुaṅgeṣuin the limbs [of the body] (aṅga); in the limbs; in the body
प्रोतम्protamcast; laid
Translation
The hair is the hiṅkāra, the skin the prastāva, the flesh the udgītha, the bone the pratihāra, the marrow the nidhana. This yajñāyajñīya is woven into the members [of the body].
Version
385981723328 · published Jul 26, 2026, 10:44:39 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The ninth melody is the yajñāyajñīya ("the sacrifice-by-sacrifice", the concluding sāman of the agniṣṭoma!) — woven into the body itself: hair the striking-up (the surface), skin the setting-forth, flesh the lifting-up, bone the taking-up, marrow the cadence: the body read inward, layer by layer, from a hair to the marrow of the bone: five beats of flesh.
The rite's final sāman is found in a man's own composition: the deepest of all the weavings: my body is the closing chant of the sacrifice! Not a "vessel of sin" nor a "machine" but a score: the layers of the flesh are the members of a sāman, and to live in a body is to perform the yajñāyajñīya. Care of the body follows from this not as indulgence but as the tuning of the instrument on which the sacrificial finale is played.