Upanishads · Atharvaśiras 8
॥
Devanāgarī
यो वै रुद्रः स भगवन् यश् च सूर्यस् तस्मै वै नमोनमः
Transliteration (IAST)
yo vai rudraḥ sa bhagavan yaś ca sūryas 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 सूर्यःyaḥ ca sūryaḥand who is Sūrya; and the one who is Sūrya
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 Sūrya. To Him be homage and homage.
Version
d94d3ad7118c · published Jul 29, 2026, 3:17:52 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The seventh name is Sūrya, the sun.
In Vedic letters the sun is the chief visible likeness of the Highest: to it the Gāyatrī is addressed, of it the Īśā Upaniṣad speaks in its dying prayer.
The litany sets it after fire and wind, closing the triad which the ancients held to be three kinds of one light: fire on earth, lightning in the air, the sun in heaven.
This is the oldest of divisions, and on it the whole Vedic rite stands.
Note that the twenty-seventh mantra of the Rāma-tāpanī's litany also names the sun, and there I remarked: Rāma is a scion of the Solar line, so that in the Vaiṣṇava book the name sounds genealogical as well.
Here there is no genealogy. There is only the luminary itself — and it is said that it is He.
The next name is the moon, and with it the roll of lights will end.