Upanishads · Rudrahṛdaya 21
॥
Devanāgarī
रुद्रो वह्निरुमा स्वाहा तस्मै तस्यै नमो नमः । रुद्रो वेद उमा शास्त्रं तस्मै तस्यै नमो नमः
Transliteration (IAST)
rudro vahnirumā svāhā tasmai tasyai namo namaḥ | rudro veda umā śāstraṃ tasmai tasyai namo namaḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
रुद्रः वह्निः उमा स्वाहाrudraḥ vahniḥ umā svāhāRudra — fire, Umā — "svāhā"
रुद्रः वेदः उमा शास्त्रंrudraḥ vedaḥ umā śāstraṃRudra — the Veda, Umā — the science
तस्मै तस्यै नमः नमःtasmai tasyai namaḥ namaḥto him and to her, homage, homage
Translation
"Rudra — fire, Umā — 'svāhā': to him and to her, homage, homage. Rudra — the Veda, Umā — the science: to him and to her, homage, homage."
Version
093a4b3b5a9e · published Aug 7, 2026, 1:42:45 AM UTC
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The pair "fire and 'svāhā'" is among the most precise in the whole string. Svāhā is the exclamation accompanying a libation: "svāhā!" — and one pours. Without this word, the libation is not counted as performed; the fire burns, the ghee pours, but there is no sacrifice until it is spoken.
That is, the feminine principle here is named the word by which the deed is done. Not a helper, not a ground, but that without which the action is not accomplished. This observation, to my mind, is among the truest in these books, and it goes beyond the rite. Every human transaction is accomplished by a word: a promise, a consent, a refusal; and what is not spoken is, legally and humanly, not done.
The second pair — "the Veda and the science" — is of the same kind. Śāstra is a branch of knowledge grown out of the Veda: grammar, ritual, law, medicine. The Veda is the given; the śāstra is the worked out; and one without the other does not stand: the given without working out lies unapplied, and the working out without the given hangs unmoored.
The Vaiṣṇava side distinguishes śruti and smṛti in the same way, and her rule is firm: smṛti is accepted so long as it does not contradict śruti. This rule is sound and applies far beyond these books: the worked-out always has the right to specify, but never the right to overturn what it grew from.