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Upanishads · Dattātreya 1.13
॥
Devanāgarī
अनुष्टुप् छन्दो व्याख्यास्ये । सर्वत्र सम्बुद्धिरिमानीत्युच्यन्ते
Transliteration (IAST)
anuṣṭup chando vyākhyāsye | sarvatra sambuddhirimānītyucyante
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
अनुष्टुप् छन्दः व्याख्यास्येanuṣṭup chandaḥ vyākhyāsyeI shall explain [the mantra] in the anuṣṭubh meter
सर्वत्र सम्बुद्धिःsarvatra sambuddhiḥeverywhere the vocative case
इमानि इति उच्यन्तेimāni iti ucyantethese are called thus
Translation
«I shall explain [a mantra] in the anuṣṭubh meter; everywhere in it [stands] the vocative case. They are called thus…»
Version
8f9abc292259 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Note the qualification: sarvatra sambuddhiḥ, “everywhere the vocative case.” That is, of the verse about to follow, it is stated in advance that it consists entirely of addresses. This remark is grammatical, and necessary in such a book: without it, a reader would take the names for a list, not for a call.
Let us add what deserves saying about the meter itself. Anuṣṭubh is a meter of thirty-two syllables, eight per quarter; it is the most common meter in Indian literature — the Mahābhārata, the Rāmāyaṇa, and almost all ślokas are composed in it. Tradition derives it from the exclamation of Vālmīki, who saw a hunter shoot one of a pair of birds; and hence it is held the meter of grief and compassion.
This detail is apt here, for the verse that follows is a call, not a description. The Vaiṣṇava side treats such verses of names as its own chief practice, and that a name is an address, not a term, was discussed reading the Gaṇapati (7.3) and the Varāha (5.65). Let us add what follows in practice from this qualification: if the whole verse is in the vocative, it cannot be paraphrased; it can only be uttered. Paraphrased, it becomes a list of properties; uttered, it remains what it was.