Upanishads · Subāla 2.1
॥
Devanāgarī
अपानान्निषादा यक्षराक्षसगन्धर्वाश्चास्थिभ्यः पर्वता लोमभ्य ओषधिवनस्पतयो ललाटात्क्रोधजो रुद्रो जायते
Transliteration (IAST)
apānānniṣādā yakṣarākṣasagandharvāścāsthibhyaḥ parvatā lomabhya oṣadhivanaspatayo lalāṭātkrodhajo rudro jāyate
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
अपानात् निषादाःapānāt niṣādāḥfrom the lower breath — the niṣādas; from apāna — the forest tribes
यक्षराक्षसगन्धर्वाः चyakṣarākṣasagandharvāḥ caand yakṣas, rākṣasas, gandharvas; and also spirits, demons, singers
अस्थिभ्यः पर्वताःasthibhyaḥ parvatāḥfrom the bones — the mountains; from the bones — the ranges
लोमभ्यः ओषधिवनस्पतयःlomabhyaḥ oṣadhivanaspatayaḥfrom the hairs — herbs and trees; from the hairs — grasses and forest trees
ललाटात् क्रोधजःlalāṭāt krodhajaḥfrom the forehead — the wrath-born; from the brow — the one arisen of fury
रुद्रः जायतेrudraḥ jāyateRudra is born; Rudra proceeds
Translation
From the lower breath — the niṣādas, and yakṣas, rākṣasas, gandharvas; from the bones — the mountains, from the hairs — herbs and trees; and from the forehead is born Rudra, born of wrath.
Version
5de82171272b · published Jul 29, 2026, 4:12:03 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The list continues, and now out of the Puruṣa comes what found no place in the first verse.
Apāna is the lowest of the five breaths, the one that governs expulsion. From it are named the niṣādas — the forest tribes standing outside the order of estates — and beings not quite of this world: yakṣas, rākṣasas, gandharvas. All of this is what lives at the edge: beyond the village bounds, beyond the circle of the rite.
Note that the Upaniṣad does not cast them out of the Puruṣa's body, but points to the place from which they came. Nothing in this list proves to be outside Him.
Then comes what we call nature: from the bones the mountains, from the hairs the herbs and trees. The likening is simple and memorable; in it is the same feeling as in the Puruṣa-sūkta — the world is not built around man; the world is the body.
And last is named Rudra — “born of wrath”, come forth from the forehead. Tradition knows this story: Rudra is born from the frowning brow. Wrath is named as his origin directly, without softening.
He is placed at the end of the list and apart: not from the limbs of the body, like the estates, and not from the organs, like the luminaries, but from an expression of the face. The terrible principle of the universe has its own separate origin.