Upanishads · Garbha 1
॥
Devanāgarī
ओं पञ्चात्मकं पञ्चसु वर्तमानं षडाश्रयं षड्गुणयोगयुक्तम् तं सप्तधातुं त्रिमलं द्वियोनिं चतुर्विधाहारमयं शरीरम्
Transliteration (IAST)
oṃ pañcātmakaṃ pañcasu vartamānaṃ ṣaḍāśrayaṃ ṣaḍguṇayogayuktam taṃ saptadhātuṃ trimalaṃ dviyoniṃ caturvidhāhāramayaṃ śarīram
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
ओं पञ्चात्मकम्oṃ pañcātmakamOm. Fivefold; Om. Consisting of five
पञ्चसु वर्तमानम्pañcasu vartamānamabiding in five; circulating in the five
षडाश्रयम्ṣaḍāśrayamresting on six; having six supports
षड्गुणयोगयुक्तम्ṣaḍguṇayogayuktamfurnished with the union of six qualities; conjoined with six properties
तम् सप्तधातुम् त्रिमलम्tam saptadhātum trimalamit, of seven constituents, with three impurities; it, of seven dhātus and three impurities
द्वियोनिम् चतुर्विधाहारमयम् शरीरम्dviyonim caturvidhāhāramayam śarīramof two wombs, made of four kinds of food — the body; of two origins, of four sorts of nourishment — the body
Translation
Om. Fivefold, abiding in five, resting on six, furnished with the union of six qualities, of seven constituents, with three impurities, of two wombs, made of four kinds of food — such is the body.
Version
0069d7abdc22 · published Jul 29, 2026, 2:57:05 AM UTC
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The book opens with an inventory of the body, and all of it is arithmetic: five, five, six, six, seven, three, two, four.
The list is deliberately compressed to the point of obscurity: not one of the numbers is explained. The explanations will come in the following sections, each opening with the question “why is it said so?”.
The device is usual in śruti: first fold up, then unfold. The Atharvaśiras did the same, where a chain of names was followed by an analysis of every link.
Let us grasp in advance what the book is about. It is about the embryo — how the body is put together in the womb, and what happens meanwhile to the one who takes up residence in it.
This is a rare subject for the Upaniṣads. They usually speak of what is not born; here the subject is birth, and it is treated with an almost medical precision — with months, with the weights of the organs, with the count of the vessels.
Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa cites precisely this enumeration in the Govinda-bhāṣya: the body is compounded of the elements, and therefore it is not that which lives in it.
Note the last word of the verse: śarīram. It is from the root śṝ, “to fall apart”; the body is named as that which decays. The twelfth section will explain the name otherwise — through the fires.