Upanishads · Rudrākṣajābāla 2.8
॥
Devanāgarī
सप्तवक्त्रं तु रुद्राक्षं सप्तमाधिदैवतम् । तद्धारणान्महाश्रीः स्यान्महदारोग्यमुत्तमम्
Transliteration (IAST)
saptavaktraṃ tu rudrākṣaṃ saptamādhidaivatam | taddhāraṇānmahāśrīḥ syānmahadārogyamuttamam
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
सप्त-वक्त्रं तु रुद्राक्षंsapta-vaktraṃ tu rudrākṣaṃbut the seven-faced rudrākṣa
सप्तमा-अधिदैवतम्saptamā-adhidaivatamhas the Seventh as presiding deity
तत्-धारणात् महा-श्रीः स्यात्tat-dhāraṇāt mahā-śrīḥ syātfrom wearing it, let great fortune be
महत् आरोग्यम् उत्तमम्mahat ārogyam uttamamgreat and excellent health
Translation
The seven-faced rudrākṣa has the Seventh as presiding deity; from wearing it, let there be great fortune, great and excellent health.
Version
e41563fd7ce6 · published Aug 7, 2026, 2:26:09 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The second half of this line repeats the second half of the sixth word for word. Such a repetition in a versified list usually means one thing: the lines were composed to a template, and where there was nothing to say, a ready-made half-line was inserted. To say this is not to catch the book out. Almost every ancient list was composed this way; a prepared line is a tool of oral literature, and a singer who holds thousands of verses in memory relies on such stock pieces as a mason relies on a standard brick.
But there is a consequence for the reader, and it is the same as in the previous line. Not every word in a list carries equal weight: part of it is message, part is filler; and it is useful to tell them apart, so as not to seek depth where none was laid. Saptamā, "the Seventh," apparently means the seventh of the sapta-mātṛkā, the seven mothers — a company of goddesses worshiped together; the seventh among them is usually called Cāmuṇḍā.
The Vaiṣṇava side knows how to read its own books with this same discerning eye and does not consider it impiety. Its commentators explicitly divide, in the Bhāgavatam, mukhya and gauṇa, the primary and the secondary; and their rule is that a disputed point should be settled by passages where the subject is set out at length, not by passages where it is merely mentioned.