Upanishads · Rudrahṛdaya 1
॥
Devanāgarī
हृदयं कुण्डली भस्मरुद्राक्षगणदर्शनम् । तारसारं महावाक्यं पञ्चब्रह्माग्निहोत्रकम्
Transliteration (IAST)
hṛdayaṃ kuṇḍalī bhasmarudrākṣagaṇadarśanam | tārasāraṃ mahāvākyaṃ pañcabrahmāgnihotrakam
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
हृदयं कुण्डली भस्म-hṛdayaṃ kuṇḍalī bhasma-the heart, Kuṇḍalī, ash
रुद्राक्ष-गण-दर्शनम्rudrākṣa-gaṇa-darśanamrudrākṣa, the review of the host
तार-सारं महा-वाक्यंtāra-sāraṃ mahā-vākyaṃthe essence of "tāra," the great saying
पञ्च-ब्रह्म-अग्नि-होत्रकम्pañca-brahma-agni-hotrakamthe five brahmans, the fire-offering
Translation
"The heart, Kuṇḍalī, ash, rudrākṣa, the review of the host, the essence of 'tāra,' the great saying, the five brahmans, the fire-offering …"
Version
3d4c1ba5abc7 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
This line is not part of the book but a table of contents for a collection: a list of the titles of the upaniṣads standing together in this collection. "The Heart" is this very book; "Kuṇḍalī," "Ash," "Rudrākṣa," "Tārasāra," "The Five Brahmans" are its neighbors. Lists of this kind were inserted by copyists to indicate the order; and in some editions this line is absent entirely.
The book itself will begin with the next line, and it is worth saying in advance what makes it remarkable. This is a Śaiva upaniṣad, that is, devoted to Śiva; and it is, moreover, probably the strongest testimony in this whole collection that Śiva and Viṣṇu are not rivals. It will say: whoever bows to Govinda bows to Śaṅkara (6); whoever hates Virūpākṣa hates Janārdana (7); Viṣṇu is the eternal self of all beings (13). And this is said by the mouth of Vyāsa, answering his son Śuka.
It should therefore be read not as a book of an opposing camp, but as the place where the hostility, of which there was no small amount in India, is called directly a misunderstanding. The Vaiṣṇava side does not disown such testimony and cites it gladly — all the more so because it does not come from her.