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Upanishads · Jābāli 5
॥
Devanāgarī
के पशव इति पुनः स तमुवाच जीवाः पशव उक्ताः । तत्पतित्वात्पशुपतिः
Transliteration (IAST)
ke paśava iti punaḥ sa tamuvāca jīvāḥ paśava uktāḥ | tatpatitvātpaśupatiḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
के पशवः इतिke paśavaḥ iti“then who are the beasts?”
जीवाः पशवः उक्ताःjīvāḥ paśavaḥ uktāḥ“the living beings are called beasts
तत्-पतित्वात् पशुपतिःtat-patitvāt paśupatiḥby his lordship over them he is lord of the beast”
Translation
“‘Then who are the beasts?’ — ‘The living beings are called beasts; by his lordship over them [he is called] lord of the beast.’”
Version
27afb512041d · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Let us examine the name paśupati itself, for it is ancient and in the Veda meant something other than it does here. Paśu means “domestic animal”; and paśupati in Vedic usage is “owner of livestock” — one to whom prayers are addressed for the safety of the herd. This is an agricultural name, and a very old one; and Rudra is called this in the Veda precisely as the protector of livestock from wolves and disease.
Later Śaiva teaching reinterpreted it: the beast came to mean souls, the tether — matter, the master — the Lord. This reinterpretation is clever; but it is worth noting what was lost in it. In the old name there was care: a master looks after his herd, because it feeds him.
In the new one only dominion remains: tat-patitvāt, “by lordship over them.” That is, the relation is reduced to power, and everything warm in it has fallen away. The Vaiṣṇava side holds the same image and has not lost the former sense.
Its own Lord also herds: the name Gopāla means “protector of cows,” from go and pā, “to protect”; and Govinda — “finder of cows.” But in its stories He tends the herd Himself, knows the cows by name, calls them with a flute, and they run to Him; and the Bhāgavatam (10.35) describes cows standing with grass unchewed in their mouths, held by His playing. That is, in its account the herdsman does not rule but calls; and the herd comes not because it is tied, but because it has recognized the voice.