Upanishads · Atharvaśiras 21
॥
Devanāgarī
यो वै रुद्रः स भगवान् यश् च यमस् तस्मै वै नमोनमः
Transliteration (IAST)
yo vai rudraḥ sa bhagavān yaś ca yamas 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 यमःyaḥ ca yamaḥand who is Yama; and the one who is Yama
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 Yama. To Him be homage and homage.
Version
b201c53faa02 · published Jul 29, 2026, 3:17:52 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Yama, the god of death and the first of the dead: tradition says he was the first to find the road to that world, and therefore leads the rest along it.
He is also called dharmarāja, “the king of the law”, because he does not execute — he judges.
To him came the boy Naciketas and waited three days at his threshold; and from him, and from no other, received the teaching about that which does not die.
That is why death in these books does not block the truth but opens it. Death is the one who is asked.
And now it is said that Yama is Rudra.
The judge, then, is no stranger. The twenty-first mantra of the Rāma-tāpanī's litany says the same of Rāma, and I noted then: the judgment over the dead is no alien hand.
Two books that parted in their names speak here, word for word, one thing.