Upanishads · Rudrākṣajābāla 3p2
॥
Devanāgarī
तस्मिन्समये निदाघजडभरतदत्तात्रेयकात्यायनभरद्वाजकपिलवसिष्ठपिप्पलादादयश्च कालाग्निरुद्रं परिसमेत्योचुः
Transliteration (IAST)
tasminsamaye nidāghajaḍabharatadattātreyakātyāyanabharadvājakapilavasiṣṭhapippalādādayaśca kālāgnirudraṃ parisametyocuḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
तस्मिन् समये निदाघ-जडभरत-tasmin samaye nidāgha-jaḍabharata-at that time, Nidāgha, Jaḍabharata
दत्तात्रेय-कात्यायन-भरद्वाज-dattātreya-kātyāyana-bharadvāja-Dattātreya, Kātyāyana, Bharadvāja
कपिल-वसिष्ठ-पिप्पलाद-आदयः चkapila-vasiṣṭha-pippalāda-ādayaḥ caKapila, Vasiṣṭha, Pippalāda, and the rest
कालाग्निरुद्रं परिसमेत्य ऊचुःkālāgnirudraṃ parisametya ūcuḥhaving gathered around Kālāgnirudra, said
Translation
At that time Nidāgha, Jaḍabharata, Dattātreya, Kātyāyana, Bharadvāja, Kapila, Vasiṣṭha, Pippalāda, and the rest, having gathered around Kālāgnirudra, said …
Version
82afa3b341af · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The list of those who came is worth going through by name, for it is composed with intent. Nidāgha is the pupil of Ṛbhu in the Viṣṇu Purāṇa; Jaḍabharata is that same Bharata of whom the Bhāgavatam tells that he grew attached to a fawn and was born a deer (5.8), and afterward feigned dullness; Dattātreya and Kapila are counted, in the Vaiṣṇava reckoning, as direct descents of the Lord (1.3.10 and 1.3.11); Pippalāda is the one to whom the Praśna Upaniṣad is addressed; Vasiṣṭha and Bharadvāja are among the seven great seers. That is, names are gathered from different camps: purāṇic, Sāṅkhya, upaniṣadic, and directly Vaiṣṇava.
This device is common in books of this kind, and it must be called by its name: this is how universality is claimed. If teachers of every school sit at the speaker's feet, then what he says is the teaching not of one school but of all. There is, however, something to be said in favor of this device. It presupposes that the schools know one another and that there is communication between them; and that is better than an isolation in which each community imagines itself the only one.
The Vaiṣṇava side does exactly the same and is not ashamed of its own such lists: in its books, sages of every direction, including Śaiva, gather at the Lord's feet. This mutual regard, on closer inspection, is the one thing that can be reliably established here — that they all knew of and read one another. The word parisametya, "having gathered together," from pari-sam-i, deserves particular note: they came not singly but together, having agreed beforehand. The question, then, was a shared one, and they went to ask it jointly.