Upanishads · Mantrikā 10
॥
Devanāgarī
मन्त्रोपनिषदं ब्रह्म पदक्रमसमन्वितम् । पठन्ति भार्गवा ह्येते ह्यथर्वाणो भृगूत्तमाः
Transliteration (IAST)
mantropaniṣadaṃ brahma padakramasamanvitam | paṭhanti bhārgavā hyete hyatharvāṇo bhṛgūttamāḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
मन्त्रोपनिषदम् ब्रह्मmantropaniṣadam brahmathe mantra-upaniṣad, Brahman; the mantropaniṣad, Brahman
पदक्रमसमन्वितम्padakramasamanvitamfurnished with pada and krama; with the padapāṭha and kramapāṭha
पठन्ति भार्गवाः हि एतेpaṭhanti bhārgavāḥ hi etethese Bhārgavas recite it; these descendants of Bhṛgu recite it
हि अथर्वाणः भृगूत्तमाःhi atharvāṇaḥ bhṛgūttamāḥthe Ātharvaṇas, best of the Bhṛgus; the ātharvaṇas, foremost of the Bhṛgus
Translation
The mantra-upaniṣad, Brahman, furnished with pada and krama, is recited by these Bhārgavas, the Ātharvaṇas, best of the Bhṛgus.
Version
8b4aa7b067a8 · published Jul 29, 2026, 3:00:17 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The last of the witnesses: the Bhārgavas and Ātharvaṇas, keepers of the Atharvaveda.
Note the phrase mantropaniṣadam — “the mantra-upaniṣad”. From it comes the book's first name, Mantrikā.
Pada and krama are two methods of mastering the Vedas. The padapāṭha resolves the text into separate words, undoing the sandhi; the kramapāṭha reads the words in overlapping pairs: first-second, second-third, and so on.
They were devised so that the text could not alter in transmission: resolved into words and counted over in overlaps, it admits neither slip nor transposition.
That is why this is mentioned. The testimony spoken of for three verses running is handed down not by memory at large, but with verification.
And I will add what the book does not say, but what is plain to anyone who has read our notes to the other Upaniṣads: where there was no such verification, the text decayed. We saw it in the Atharvaśiras and in the Garbha alike.
Here is named the means by which the ancients kept the word.