Upanishads · Kaṭharudra 14
॥
Devanāgarī
आकाशाद्वायुसंज्ञस्तु स्पर्शोऽपञ्चीकृतः पुनः । वायोरग्निस्तथा चाग्नेराप अद्भ्यो वसुन्धरा
Transliteration (IAST)
ākāśādvāyusaṃjñastu sparśo'pañcīkṛtaḥ punaḥ | vāyoragnistathā cāgnerāpa adbhyo vasundharā
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
आकाशात् वायु-संज्ञः तुākāśāt vāyu-saṃjñaḥ tufrom space — called wind
स्पर्शः अ-पञ्चीकृतः पुनःsparśaḥ a-pañcīkṛtaḥ punaḥtouch, again unquintupled
वायोः अग्निः तथा च अग्नेःvāyoḥ agniḥ tathā ca agneḥfrom wind, fire; and so from fire
आपः अद्भ्यः वसुन्धराāpaḥ adbhyaḥ vasundharāwater; from water, the earth
Translation
From space — called wind, touch, again unquintupled; from wind, fire, and so from fire, water; from water, the earth.
Version
a8a95ce8a9be · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
A chain of elements: space, wind, fire, water, earth. It is found in the Taittirīya (2.1) and recurs in all these books; it was discussed when reading the Kuṇḍikā and the Tripurā-tāpanī (21). It is worth noting the word apañcīkṛta, "unquintupled." It points to the teaching of pañcīkaraṇa, "quintupling," which the book will set out in the next verse: the subtle elements, before becoming the coarse world, mix with one another in a fixed proportion — half of one's own and an eighth from each of the other four.
This teaching is worked out in detail in later Vedānta, and it is, in essence, an explanation of why pure substances do not occur in our world. Water is never only water: it contains something of earth, of fire, and of air; and hence it wets, flows, and cools at once. This observation is true and, more importantly, verifiable. Everything we touch is a mixture; no one has ever seen a pure element, and they are a matter of reasoning, not of experience.
A separate word is worth saying about the word vasundharā, "bearing wealth," by which the earth is named. Vasu means "good, possession"; dhara, "bearer." The earth is named not as hard or heavy, but as that which bears good upon itself; and this again is what one notices constantly in such lists: even in an abstract inventory of elements, the last is named for its usefulness to the living.