Upanishads · Jābāladarśana 4.14
॥
Devanāgarī
सरस्वती कुहुश्चैव सुषुम्नापार्श्वयोः स्थिते । गान्धारा हस्तिजिह्वा च इडायाः पृष्ठपार्श्वयोः
Transliteration (IAST)
sarasvatī kuhuścaiva suṣumnāpārśvayoḥ sthite | gāndhārā hastijihvā ca iḍāyāḥ pṛṣṭhapārśvayoḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
सरस्वती कुहुः च एवsarasvatī kuhuḥ ca evasarasvati and kuhu likewise
सुषुम्ना-पार्श्वयोः स्थितेsuṣumnā-pārśvayoḥ sthitestand at the sides of sushumna
गान्धारा हस्ति-जिह्वा चgāndhārā hasti-jihvā cagandhara and hasti-jihva
इडायाः पृष्ठ-पार्श्वयोःiḍāyāḥ pṛṣṭha-pārśvayoḥbehind and beside ida
Translation
"Sarasvati and kuhu likewise stand at the sides of sushumna; gandhara and hasti-jihva, behind and beside ida."
Version
ab2058231509 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The placement of the remaining passages begins, and it will take up three more lines: this one behind that, that one between these. Something general is worth saying about descriptions of this kind, for we shall be reading a run of them. This description is topographical: it indicates mutual position and nothing more. Almost nothing is said of the purpose of the passages; nor of what to do with them.
The compiler, apparently, supposed that anyone taking up the book already knew this; and we are left reading a diagram without an explanatory note. This situation is common in reading ancient books, and deserves naming. Every work stays silent about what was obvious in its own time; and hence a later reader learns from a book precisely what was least important, while the most important remains between the lines.
The consequence for us is practical. One should not read depth into a list of mutual positions: it is not stored there. One should read the list as a list, and wait for the places where the book speaks to the substance; and such places exist in it, and we shall note them.
The Vaishnava side, in similar cases, holds to a rule already spoken of when reading the Ganapati: decide by the places where a subject is expounded, not by the places where it is merely listed. This rule fits both other books and its own.