Upanishads · Atharvaśiras 19
॥
Devanāgarī
यो वै रुद्रः स भगवान् यच् च तेजस् तस्मै वै नमोनमः
Transliteration (IAST)
yo vai rudraḥ sa bhagavān yac ca tejas 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
यत् च तेजःyat ca tejaḥand which is the fire-heat; and that which is tejas
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 the heat and radiance. To Him be homage and homage.
Version
1ec2e9111c88 · published Jul 29, 2026, 3:17:52 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Tejas is a word with no single equivalent: heat, and lustre, and edge, and that dignity by which a man seems luminous.
In the first section Rudra named himself both the waters and tejas, and the last words of that section were: “I satiate with my own fire”, svena tejasā.
There, that is, tejas was no element but His own power.
Here it is named among the rest — and in this is the litany's whole method. It does not sort out what in the list belongs to Him as attribute and what as creation: all is named alike.
Paired with the previous section, the ancient dyad emerges: the waters and the heat, the moist and the burning. On it stands the doctrine of the five fires and the whole rite of libation.
The next section will name what is older than both waters and heat — time.