Upanishads · Prāṇāgnihotra 1.7
॥
Devanāgarī
यदन्नमग्निर्बहुधा विराद्धि रुद्रैः प्रजग्धं यदि वा पिशाचैः । सर्वं तदीशानो अभयं कृणोतु शिवमीशानाय स्वाहा
Transliteration (IAST)
yadannamagnirbahudhā virāddhi rudraiḥ prajagdhaṃ yadi vā piśācaiḥ | sarvaṃ tadīśāno abhayaṃ kṛṇotu śivamīśānāya svāhā
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
यत् अन्नम् अग्निः बहुधा विराद्धिyat annam agniḥ bahudhā virāddhiwhatever food has been spoiled by fire in many ways
रुद्रैः प्रजग्धं यदि वा पिशाचैःrudraiḥ prajagdhaṃ yadi vā piśācaiḥeaten by the Rudras or the piśācas
सर्वं तत् ईशानः अभयं कृणोतुsarvaṃ tat īśānaḥ abhayaṃ kṛṇotuall of it may the lord make harmless
शिवम् ईशानाय स्वाहाśivam īśānāya svāhāauspicious; to Īśāna — svāhā
Translation
Whatever food has been spoiled by fire in many ways, eaten by the Rudras or by the piśācas — may the lord make all of it harmless and auspicious. To Īśāna — svāhā!
Version
c69367aae73e · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
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The verse asks for the purification of food, and it is worth examining from what exactly. Three kinds of spoilage are named: from fire (burnt, gone bad), from the Rudras, and from piśācas. Piśācas are lower spirits that eat raw and unclean flesh; and the belief that they "sample" food before a person does was universal in antiquity.
That is, behind the prayer stands the conviction that between preparation and eating, food is accessible to someone; and one must ensure that what is eaten does not turn out to be another's leavings. It is worth saying that this conviction is not as naive as it seems. It means that food is not neutral: it carries a trace of what happened to it. And anyone who has eaten food prepared in malice, or taken dishonestly, knows that this trace is felt even without any spirits.
The Vaiṣṇava side shares this conviction and expresses it through the concept of bhāva, discussed when reading the Jābāla-darśana (4.51). Food absorbs the disposition of the one who prepared it; hence in its temples just anyone is not admitted to cook, and it is required that cooking be done in silence or with singing. Let us add how its practice differs from this one.
Here spoilage is warded off by prayer: one asks that it be made harmless. There, spoilage is prevented by offering: food is first set before Him, and after that it is called prasāda. The difference between "let it not harm" and "He has accepted" is the difference between a charm and a service; and the second, to my mind, is richer in content.