Upanishads · Jābāladarśana 4.20
॥
Devanāgarī
पूषा वामाक्षिपर्यन्ता पिङ्गलायास्तु पृष्ठतः । पयस्विनी च याम्यस्य कर्णान्तं प्रोच्यते बुधैः
Transliteration (IAST)
pūṣā vāmākṣiparyantā piṅgalāyāstu pṛṣṭhataḥ | payasvinī ca yāmyasya karṇāntaṃ procyate budhaiḥ
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
पूषा वाम-अक्षि-पर्यन्ताpūṣā vāma-akṣi-paryantāpusha, up to the left eye
पिङ्गलायाः तु पृष्ठतःpiṅgalāyāḥ tu pṛṣṭhataḥbehind pingala, however
पयस्विनी च याम्यस्यpayasvinī ca yāmyasyaand payasvini, of the right
कर्ण-अन्तं प्रोच्यते बुधैःkarṇa-antaṃ procyate budhaiḥup to the ear, say the wise
Translation
"Pusha, behind pingala, reaches up to the left eye; and payasvini, say the wise, up to the right ear."
Version
3e999c2e81a0 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Worth noting is that a name appears here that was not in the list of fourteen: payasvini, "the milky one." In the list (4.7–4.8) stood tapasvini, "the ascetic one"; here stands payasvini. The difference is a single letter, and this, in all likelihood, is a variant reading, not a new name.
Such discrepancies in lists are a common occurrence in copying, and they should be pointed out, not smoothed over. One who reads an ancient book must know that before him is a text that has passed through many hands, and that it contains corrupted places. The Vaishnava side takes this circumstance soberly and has a rule for it.
The rule states: corruption of details does not cancel a teaching, so long as the teaching is attested in several places and does not depend on a single letter. Hence its commentators, when examining disputed passages, always look for confirmation in another work; and a position resting on a single line of a single book is held by them to be unreliable. This rule, applied generally, is a good remedy against two extremes. Against one — the habit of building a whole teaching on a single phrase. Against the other — the habit of rejecting a book entirely because a scribal error has been found in it.
As for the list itself, it is drawing to a close: the places of two more passages remain to be named, after which the book will turn to the breaths, where the discourse of substance will begin.