Upanishads · Atharvaśiras 4
॥
Devanāgarī
यो वै रुद्रः स भगवान् यश् च स्कन्दस् तस्मै वै नमोनमः
Transliteration (IAST)
yo vai rudraḥ sa bhagavān yaś ca skandas tasmai vai namonamaḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
यः वै रुद्रःyaḥ vai rudraḥhe who is Rudra; the one who is Rudra
सः भगवान्saḥ bhagavānhe is the Lord; he indeed is the Bhagavān
यः च स्कन्दःyaḥ ca skandaḥand who is Skanda; and the one who is Skanda
तस्मै वै नमः नमःtasmai vai namaḥ namaḥto him be homage and homage; to him obeisance and obeisance
Translation
He who is Rudra — He is the Lord, and He is Skanda. To Him be homage and homage.
Version
1ef4612c013d · published Jul 29, 2026, 3:17:52 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The third name is Skanda — Kārttikeya, the son of Śiva, commander of the heavenly host.
The order deserves note: Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Skanda. After the two greatest is named not the third of the great, but a son.
This continues the thought of the first section, where the quarters, the sexes and the metres of verse were listed side by side. The litany builds no ladder of ranks: it enumerates.
Skanda was born, tradition says, of a spark of Śiva cast into the fire, and nursed by the six Kṛttikās; hence his six faces. He is the one who slew Tāraka, the demon none other could master.
Note that the Gītā names Skanda too: “of commanders I am Skanda”. There the enumeration is built otherwise — “I am the best in every kind” — while here it is simply “He is”.
The difference between the two devices is real and not small. The Gītā speaks of pre-eminence; the litany, of identity.