Upanishads · Rāma-tāpanī Pūrva 1.8
॥
Devanāgarī
रूपस्थानां देवतानां पुंस्त्र्यङ्गास्त्रादिकल्पना । द्विचत्तत्वारिषडष्टानां दश द्वादश षोडश
Transliteration (IAST)
rūpasthānāṃ devatānāṃ puṃstryaṅgāstrādikalpanā | dvicattatvāriṣaḍaṣṭānāṃ daśa dvādaśa ṣoḍaśa
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
रूपस्थानाम् देवतानाम्rūpasthānām devatānāmof the deities possessing form; for the gods that have shape
पुंस्त्री अङ्ग अस्त्र आदि कल्पनाpuṃstrī aṅga astra ādi kalpanāthe fashioning of male and female, of limbs and weapons; the appointing of sex, body and arms
द्वि चत्त्वारि षट् अष्टानाम्dvi cattvāri ṣaṭ aṣṭānāmby two, four, six, eight; of two, four, six, eight
दश द्वादश षोडशdaśa dvādaśa ṣoḍaśaten, twelve, sixteen; of ten, twelve, sixteen
Translation
For the deities possessing form are fashioned the male and the female, limbs, weapons and the rest — by twos, fours, sixes, eights, tens, twelves, sixteens.
Version
153182cc5b49 · published Jul 29, 2026, 5:15:19 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The verse continues the examination of form and passes to particulars: sex, limbs, weapons and the number of arms.
The list of numbers — 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 16 — is the count of arms of the various deities. Rāma and Kṛṣṇa are two-armed; Viṣṇu four-armed; other images of the tradition have eight, twelve, sixteen. The list is deliberately long: it shows that the number is neither accidental nor unique.
Note that together with weapons and limbs is named puṁstrī — “the male and the female”. Sex too is referred to the fashioning of form. This should be kept: not only the arms and the mace, but also the Deity's being shown as husband or wife belongs to the way It is turned toward the worshippers.
Why does the Upaniṣad need this inventory? Because it answers the objection that occurs to everyone: if God is one, why are the images so many and so different?
Its answer is simple: the diversity belongs not to Him but to the address to us. As in the Gopāla-tāpanī it was said that the one Kṛṣṇa “shines in sound with five words for the good of the world”, so here: the numbers of arms multiply for the sake of those who look.
And yet there is no mockery of the images in this listing. The next verse will continue it with the same thoroughness — down to the colour and the mount.