Upanishads · Śvetāśvatara 4.19
॥
Devanāgarī
नैनम् ऊर्ध्वं न तिर्यञ्चं न मध्ये परिजग्रभत् ।
न तस्य प्रतिमा अस्ति यस्य नाम महद् यशः
Transliteration (IAST)
nainam ūrdhvaṃ na tiryañcaṃ na madhye parijagrabhat /
na tasya pratimā asti yasya nāma mahad yaśaḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
न एनम्na enamHim not; no one Him
ऊर्ध्वम्ūrdhvamabove; from on high
न तिर्यञ्चम्na tiryañcamnor across; nor from the side
न मध्येna madhyenor in the middle; nor in the midst
परिजग्रभत्parijagrabhathas grasped; has encompassed, seized
न तस्य प्रतिमा अस्तिna tasya pratimā astithere is no likeness of Him; there is nothing commensurate with Him
यस्य नामyasya nāmawhose name; who has for a name
महत् यशःmahat yaśaḥGreat Glory; great renown
Translation
Neither above nor across nor in the middle has anyone grasped Him. There is no likeness of Him — of Him whose name is Great Glory.
Version
148c0697ab7f · published Jul 28, 2026, 2:13:46 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The first half denies any possibility of encompassing Him from any side: not from above, not from the side, not from within the middle. The verb parijagrabhat means "seized round about", "encompassed"; what is said, then, is the impossibility of taking Him in by thought or by sight. This is the same thought as at 3.19: "no one knows Him".
The second half is famous and often cited in disputes about images: na tasya pratimā asti. In later language the word pratimā means "a statue", and so the line is sometimes translated as a prohibition on having an image of Him. But in the language of the Upaniṣads pratimā means first of all "measure, correspondence, likeness", from prati-mā, "to measure": what is said is that there is nothing by which He could be measured, that He has no equal. So the commentators understand it: the line denies commensurability, not the honouring of an image.
This reading is confirmed by the Upaniṣad itself. The same book says that He is contemplated in the heart, that He is "grasped by feeling", and draws Him in portrait; a text forbidding an image would not describe His face and feet.
And the last word of the mantra is a beautiful one: His name is called mahat yaśaḥ, "Great Glory". The immeasurable is named not "the Inconceivable" and not "the Nameless" but Glory: what cannot be measured can nevertheless be sung.