Upanishads · Atharvaśiras 29
॥
Devanāgarī
यो वै रुद्रः स भगवान् यच् च कृष्णं तस्मै वै नमोनमः
Transliteration (IAST)
yo vai rudraḥ sa bhagavān yac ca kṛṣṇaṃ 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 कृष्णम्yat ca kṛṣṇamand which is the black; and that which is kṛṣṇa
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 black. To Him be homage and homage.
Version
14672d2db63f · published Jul 29, 2026, 3:17:52 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Kṛṣṇa — “black, dark”; the same word as the name of Kṛṣṇa, and in the name it means the same dark colour of the storm-cloud.
It is set right after the white, and in that is the section's whole meaning.
To say that God is light is customary. To say that He is also darkness is nearly impossible; and yet it is said.
Let us grasp what is meant, and not soften it. This is not about evil: evil the book nowhere calls by His name. It is about darkness being no foreign province where His power does not reach.
The Śvetāśvatara says the same otherwise: “He is the white and the black”; and there too — “He has neither likeness nor name”.
Note also that the thirty-sixth section of this book will distribute colours over the measures of the syllable Om: the first measure is red and belongs to Brahmā, the second, black, to Viṣṇu, the third, tawny, to Īśāna, and the fourth is clear as crystal.
The black colour there is given to Viṣṇu.