Upanishads · Gopāla-tāpanī Uttara 2
॥
Devanāgarī
उवाच ताः कृष्णः
Transliteration (IAST)
uvāca tāḥ kṛṣṇaḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
उवाचuvācasaid; spoke
ताःtāḥto them; to those women
कृष्णःkṛṣṇaḥKṛṣṇa; He, Kṛṣṇa
Translation
And Kṛṣṇa said to them.
Version
3c046a7ac9a7 · published Jul 28, 2026, 2:30:24 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
A single line, than which there is none shorter in the book: "and Kṛṣṇa said to them". It stands like a heading over what follows.
In the Upaniṣads such connectives are not idle: they mark who is speaking, because the weight of what is said depends on it. Until now Brahmā has been answering in this book; now He answers Himself.
Note the order of the conversation that will unfold. The cowherd women ask no theological questions — they ask about a matter in hand: to whom to take the food and how to cross the river. But the answers will turn out to be such that the whole second part of the book grows out of them.
In this lies its peculiarity: the highest teaching here arises not from a debate but from a domestic difficulty. So too in other Upaniṣads a great teaching begins with a trifle — with a ladle, with a fire left untended, with a promise unkept.