ओं देवा ह वै स्वर्गलोकम् आयंस् ते रुद्रम् अपृच्छन् को भवान् इति । सो ऽब्रवीद् अहम् एकः प्रथमम् आसोद्वर्तामि च भविष्यामि च नान्यः कश्चिन् मत्तो व्यतिरिक्त इति । सो ऽन्तराद् अन्तरं प्राविशत् दिशश् चान्तरं प्राविशत् सो ऽहं नित्यानित्यो व्यक्ताव्यक्तो ब्रह्मा ब्रह्माहं प्राञ्चः प्रत्यञ्चो ऽहं दक्षिणां च उदञ्चो ऽहम् अधश् चोर्ध्वश् चाहं दिशश् च प्रतिदिशश् चाहं पुमान् अपुमान् स्त्रियश् चाहं सावित्र्य् अहं गायत्र्य् अहं त्रिष्टुब्जगत्यनुष्टुप् चाहं छन्दो ऽहं सत्यो ऽहं गार्हपत्यो दक्षिणाग्निर् आहवनीयो ऽहं गौर् अहं गौर्य् अहम् ऋग् अहं यजुर् अहं सामाहम् अथर्वाङ्गिरसो ऽहं ज्येष्ठो ऽहं श्रेष्ठोऽहं वरिष्ठो ऽहम् आपो ऽहं तेजो ऽहं गुह्यो ऽहम् अरण्यो ऽहम् अक्षरम् अहं क्षरम् अहं पुष्करम् अहं पवित्रम् अहम् उग्रं च बलिश् च पुरस्ताज् ज्योतिर् इत्य् अहम् एव सर्वेभ्यो माम् एव स सर्वः समायो मां वेद स देवान् वेद सर्वांश् च वेदान् साङ्गान् अपि ब्रह्म ब्राह्मणैश् च गां गोभिर् ब्राह्मणान् ब्राह्मण्येन हविर् हविषा आयुर् आयुषा सत्येन सत्यं धर्मेण धर्मं तर्पयामि स्वेन तेजसा । ततो ह वै ते देवा रुद्रम् अपृच्छन् ते देवा रुद्रम् अपश्यन् ते देवा रुद्रम् अध्यायन् ते देवा ऊर्ध्वबाहवो रुद्रं स्तुवन्ति
oṃ devā ha vai svargalokam āyaṃs te rudram apṛcchan ko bhavān iti / so 'bravīd aham ekaḥ prathamam āsodvartāmi ca bhaviṣyāmi ca nānyaḥ kaścin matto vyatirikta iti / so 'ntarād antaraṃ prāviśat diśaś cāntaraṃ prāviśat so 'haṃ nityānityo vyaktāvyakto brahmā brahmāhaṃ prāñcaḥ pratyañco 'haṃ dakṣiṇāṃ ca udañco 'ham adhaś cordhvaś cāhaṃ diśaś ca pratidiśaś cāhaṃ pumān apumān striyaś cāhaṃ sāvitry ahaṃ gāyatry ahaṃ triṣṭubjagatyanuṣṭup cāhaṃ chando 'haṃ satyo 'haṃ gārhapatyo dakṣiṇāgnir āhavanīyo 'haṃ gaur ahaṃ gaury aham ṛg ahaṃ yajur ahaṃ sāmāham atharvāṅgiraso 'haṃ jyeṣṭho 'haṃ śreṣṭho'haṃ variṣṭho 'ham āpo 'haṃ tejo 'haṃ guhyo 'ham araṇyo 'ham akṣaram ahaṃ kṣaram ahaṃ puṣkaram ahaṃ pavitram aham ugraṃ ca baliś ca purastāj jyotir ity aham eva sarvebhyo mām eva sa sarvaḥ samāyo māṃ veda sa devān veda sarvāṃś ca vedān sāṅgān api brahma brāhmaṇaiś ca gāṃ gobhir brāhmaṇān brāhmaṇyena havir haviṣā āyur āyuṣā satyena satyaṃ dharmeṇa dharmaṃ tarpayāmi svena tejasā / tato ha vai te devā rudram apṛcchan te devā rudram apaśyan te devā rudram adhyāyan te devā ūrdhvabāhavo rudraṃ stuvanti
Om. The gods came to the heavenly world and asked Rudra: “Who are you, lord?” He said: “I alone was first, and I am, and I shall be; there is none other distinct from me.” And he entered from within into the inner, and into the interior of the quarters: “I am the eternal and the non-eternal, the manifest and the unmanifest, I am Brahmā and Brahman; I am the eastward and the westward, the southward and the northward, the downward and the upward, the quarters and what lies between them; I am man, non-man and women; I am Sāvitrī, I am Gāyatrī, I am triṣṭubh, jagatī and anuṣṭubh, I am the metre, I am the true; I am the householder's fire, the southern fire and the fire of offering; I am the bull and the cow; I am the Ṛgveda, the Yajurveda, the Sāmaveda and the Atharvāṅgiras; I am the eldest, the best, the most excellent; I am the waters, I am the fire-heat; I am the hidden and I am the wild; I am the imperishable and the perishable; I am the lotus and I am the purifying; the fierce and the mighty, „the light in front“ — that am I. Who knows me, knows the gods and all the Vedas with their limbs. The cow I satiate with cows, the brāhmaṇas with brāhmaṇa-hood, the offering with the offering, the life-span with life-span, truth with truth, dharma with dharma — with my own fire.” Then those gods questioned Rudra, saw Rudra, contemplated Rudra; and with uplifted arms the gods praise Rudra.
7cfdd92606bc · published Jul 29, 2026, 3:17:52 AM UTC
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The book opens with a scene familiar from many Upaniṣads: the gods come and ask who stands before them.
The question is utterly simple: ko bhavān — “who are you, lord?”. And the answer is given in the first person, in one flow, without explanations.
First the chief thing: “I alone was first, and I am, and I shall be; there is none other distinct from me.” Three tenses and an assertion of singleness.
Then comes the enumeration that makes up the whole of this section: the quarters, sex, the metres of verse, the three sacrificial fires, the four Vedas, the waters, the fire-heat, the perishable and the imperishable. The answerer names Himself as everything at once.
Here it is worth saying plainly what this book is and how to read it. The Atharvaśiras is counted among the Śaiva Upaniṣads, and the person speaking in it is called Rudra. But the roll at once takes in Brahmā, and — in the second and third sections — Viṣṇu; the name works, that is, not as the name of one of the three, but as the name of the Highest.
So the Vaiṣṇava Vedānta reads it. Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa cites it in the Govinda-bhāṣya and takes from it precisely the passages that speak of the Highest, not of Śiva in the roll of the gods.
Recall also this. The uttara-tāpanī of the Rāma-tāpanī Upaniṣad built its litany of forty-seven mantras on the model of the one that will begin here in the next section; and its closing paragraph repeats the forty-fifth section of this book almost word for word. The kinship is direct.
Note the closing words: the gods “questioned, saw, contemplated” — and only then began to praise. The order is exact: first ask, then see, then think, and only then extol.