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Upanishads · Muktikā 1.13
॥
Devanāgarī
सहस्रसङ्ख्यया जाताः शाखाः साम्नः परन्तप । अथर्वणस्य शाखाः स्युः पञ्चाशद्भेदतो हरे
Transliteration (IAST)
sahasrasaṅkhyayā jātāḥ śākhāḥ sāmnaḥ parantapa | atharvaṇasya śākhāḥ syuḥ pañcāśadbhedato hare
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
सहस्र-सङ्ख्यया जाताःsahasra-saṅkhyayā jātāḥnumbered in the thousands, arisen
शाखाः साम्नः परन्तपśākhāḥ sāmnaḥ parantapaare the branches of the Sāman, subduer of foes
अथर्वणस्य शाखाः स्युःatharvaṇasya śākhāḥ syuḥof the Atharvan the branches are
पञ्चाशत् भेदतः हरेpañcāśat bhedataḥ harefifty by division, monkey
Translation
«The branches of the Sāman have arisen numbered in the thousands, subduer of foes; and of the Atharvan the branches are fifty by division, monkey».
Version
93695d3f9ee6 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The count is finished: twenty-one, a hundred and nine, a thousand, fifty — a thousand one hundred and eighty branches in all. Worth noting that the Sāmaveda has the most of all, and by a wide margin. The reason, apparently, is that the Sāman is the Veda of chant: it is not separate words but a way of singing the verses of the Ṛgveda; and the ways of singing the same thing can be as many as one likes.
That is, the thousand branches of the Sāman are a thousand manners of performance, not a thousand books; and this explains a number that otherwise seems incredible. Add what is worth saying of the Sāman itself, for in Vaishnava usage it holds a special place. The Gītā says: vedānāṃ sāma-vedo'smi, «of the Vedas I am the Sāmaveda» (10.22).
Worth examining why this one is chosen. Of the four Vedas, the Ṛgveda is word, the Yajurveda — action, the Atharvaveda — need; and the Sāman is song. That is, the one chosen is not the one that informs or prescribes, but the one that sings; and this choice, by its own count, is not accidental, and shows what kind of speech occupies him.
Add the address hare, «monkey», standing here in the vocative. This word in Sanskrit means both a monkey and — with a different stress — Hari himself; and Rāma calls Hanumān by it. This coincidence has been played on often in poetry.