Upanishads · Atharvaśiras 20
॥
Devanāgarī
यो वै रुद्रः स भगवान् यश् च कालस् तस्मै वै नमोनमः
Transliteration (IAST)
yo vai rudraḥ sa bhagavān yaś ca kālas 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 कालःyaḥ ca kālaḥand who is time; and the one who is kāla
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 time. To Him be homage and homage.
Version
f49e9ac7b285 · published Jul 29, 2026, 3:17:52 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Kāla, time — and with it begins the gravest row in this book: time, Yama, death, immortality.
In the Atharvaveda there is a separate hymn to Time, where it is called a horse with seven reins and it is said that Time begot even Prajāpati.
The forty-third section of this book will return to it and say: “out of the imperishable time is born, and from time — the All-pervading”.
For now it is said simply: He is time.
Recall that the Rāma-tāpanī too, in the thirty-fifth mantra of its litany, named the three times, and among the secret code of the fourth upaniṣad of its pūrva-tāpanī there flashed the phrase “time whose substance is Nārāyaṇa”.
All these books agree in one thing: time is not faceless, and therefore it is not an enemy. He who knows whose it is ceases to fight it off.
The next three sections will carry this row to its end.