Upanishads · Gopāla-tāpanī Pūrva 9
॥
Devanāgarī
तदिह श्लोका भवन्ति
Transliteration (IAST)
tadiha ślokā bhavanti
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
तत् इहtat ihaon this here; on this point here
श्लोकाःślokāḥverses; ślokas
भवन्तिbhavantithere are; are given
Translation
On this there are verses here.
Version
0a5ec7e1ec83 · published Jul 28, 2026, 2:22:17 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
A short connective of a kind common in the Upaniṣads: prose passes into verse. The formula tad iha ślokā bhavanti — "on this there are verses here" — is a sign that what follows is not a new teaching but the fixing of what has been said in a measured, easily remembered form.
This technique is constant in the Veda: first the subject is named in prose, then repeated in a verse that can be held in memory. For an oral tradition, where everything was passed on by heart, verse was not ornament but a means of preservation.
It is worth noting that this mantra is a unit of counting in its own right: the edition numbers it separately. We keep that division, because commentators refer by it.
The next mantra will give three verses describing the form of Gopāla, and in them the portrait of mantra 8 will be finished off: the eyes, the dress, the hands, the garland, the company and the place.