Upanishads · Atharvaśiras 42
॥
Devanāgarī
न तस्मात् पूर्वं न परं तद् अस्ति न भूतं नोत भव्यं यद् आसीत् । सहस्रपाद् एकमूर्ध्ना व्याप्तं स एवेदम् आवरीवर्त्ति भूतम्
Transliteration (IAST)
na tasmāt pūrvaṃ na paraṃ tad asti na bhūtaṃ nota bhavyaṃ yad āsīt / sahasrapād ekamūrdhnā vyāptaṃ sa evedam āvarīvartti bhūtam
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
न तस्मात् पूर्वम्na tasmāt pūrvamthere is nothing before him; nothing earlier than he
न परम् तत् अस्तिna param tat astiand nothing after him; and nothing later
न भूतम् न उत भव्यम्na bhūtam na uta bhavyamneither past nor future; neither what has been nor what shall be
यत् आसीत्yat āsītthat might have been; that would exist
सहस्रपात् एकमूर्ध्ना व्याप्तम्sahasrapāt ekamūrdhnā vyāptamthousand-footed, one-headed — pervaded; of a thousand feet, with a single head — pierced through
सः एव इदम् आवरीवर्त्ति भूतम्saḥ eva idam āvarīvartti bhūtamhe is this circling that has come to be; he is this being that revolves
Translation
There is nothing before him and nothing after him, neither past nor future that might have been; thousand-footed, with a single head, all is pervaded by him — and he is this circling that has come to be.
Version
d9ca77ae68f5 · published Jul 29, 2026, 3:17:52 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
A verse, and a verse of Vedic build: it echoes the Puruṣa-sūkta and the Śvetāśvatara.
First the negation of time: “nothing before him, nothing after”, “neither past nor future”.
This is stronger than saying “He is eternal”. The eternal lasts; here it is said that with respect to Him there is no earlier and no later — time does not line itself up around Him.
Then — sahasrapād ekamūrdhnā: “thousand-footed, with a single head”.
In these hymns the number thousand means the innumerable. The Puruṣa-sūkta says “thousand-headed, thousand-eyed, thousand-footed”; here the feet are a thousand and the head is one.
The asymmetry is no slip, and it speaks to the point: multiplicity below, unity above. The feet are many because He walks everywhere; the head is one because He is one.
The last word — āvarīvartti, an intensive of vṛt, “to turn”: “it circles and circles”.
Being, that is, is described as revolving, and He is named as it. Not “He turns the world”, but “He is this turning thing”.