Upanishads · Rudrahṛdaya 9
॥
Devanāgarī
ब्रह्मविष्णुमयो रुद्र अग्नीषोमात्कं जगत् । पुंलिङ्गं सर्वमीशानं स्त्रीलिङ्गं भगवत्युमा
Transliteration (IAST)
brahmaviṣṇumayo rudra agnīṣomātkaṃ jagat | puṃliṅgaṃ sarvamīśānaṃ strīliṅgaṃ bhagavatyumā
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
ब्रह्म-विष्णु-मयः रुद्रःbrahma-viṣṇu-mayaḥ rudraḥRudra, consisting of Brahmā and Viṣṇu
अग्नी-षोम-आत्मकं जगत्agnī-ṣoma-ātmakaṃ jagatthe world, consisting of fire and soma
पुं-लिङ्गं सर्वम् ईशानंpuṃ-liṅgaṃ sarvam īśānaṃeverything of masculine gender — Īśāna
स्त्री-लिङ्गं भगवती उमाstrī-liṅgaṃ bhagavatī umāof feminine gender — the goddess Umā
Translation
"Rudra consists of Brahmā and Viṣṇu; the world consists of fire and soma. Everything of masculine gender is Īśāna, of feminine gender the goddess Umā."
Version
49e99dbf7d6e · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The world is called agni-soma-ātmaka, "consisting of fire and soma," and this is an old, Vedic expression. Fire and soma are the two chief things in the rite: the first devours, the second is poured; the first is hot and dry, the second cool and moist. And the whole universe, by this reckoning, is their alternation: dry and moist, heat and coolness, the devouring and the nourishing.
This observation, for all its antiquity, is precise. Everything living indeed lives between these two: it burns and cools, spends and replenishes; and the stopping of either is death. The second half of the verse goes further and divides all that exists by grammatical gender: the masculine is Īśāna, the feminine Umā.
This must be said plainly, for this move is constant in tantric books and is, in substance, doubtful. Gender in language is a property of words, not of things: in Sanskrit "wife" is neuter (kalatram), and "river" is sometimes masculine; and in different languages the same thing has a different gender. To build a division of reality on this is to mistake a peculiarity of speech for the structure of the world.
The Vaiṣṇava side does not build her teaching on grammar, but on sayings; and this distinction was already discussed when reading the Tripurā-tāpanī (7).