Upanishads · Mahā 1.7
॥
Devanāgarī
उत्तराभिमुखो भूत्वा स्वरिति व्याहृतिर्जाग्रतं छन्दः सामवेदः सूर्यो देवता
Transliteration (IAST)
uttarābhimukho bhūtvā svariti vyāhṛtirjāgrataṃ chandaḥ sāmavedaḥ sūryo devatā
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
उत्तराभिमुखः भूत्वाuttarābhimukhaḥ bhūtvāhaving turned his face to the north; facing toward the north
स्वः इति व्याहृतिःsvaḥ iti vyāhṛtiḥ“svaḥ” — the utterance; the vyāhṛti “svaḥ”
जाग्रतम् छन्दःjāgratam chandaḥthe jāgata metre; the metre jāgata
सामवेदः सूर्यः देवताsāmavedaḥ sūryaḥ devatāthe Sāma-veda, the deity Sūrya; the Sāma-veda, the god sūrya
Translation
Having turned his face to the north: the utterance “svaḥ”, the jāgata metre, the Sāma-veda, the deity — Sūrya.
Version
f693bca1fe55 · published Jul 29, 2026, 6:29:20 AM UTC
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The north — “svaḥ”, the jagatī, the Sāma-veda, the sun.
Svaḥ is heaven; and as its deity the sun is set. This is the most direct of the four correspondences.
The Sāma-veda is the Veda of song: its hymns are not recited but sung to the appointed melodies. And it is given to the quarter the śāstras count auspicious: the north is the quarter of the gods, and one turns thither in rites that seek the light.
Note the jagatī too — the metre of twelve syllables to the quarter. We met it in the fourth paragraph of the fifth Upaniṣad of the pūrva-tāpanī of the Nṛsiṃha-tāpanī, where one of the diagram's rings was measured by it.
Three quarters are named, three utterances dealt out. The fourth remains, and on it the chart will end, and something else begin.