Upaniṣads · Subāla 1.6
॥
Devanāgarī
ब्राह्मणोऽस्य मुखमासीद्बाहू राजन्यः कृतः । ऊरू तदस्य यद्वैश्यः पद्भ्यां शूद्रो अजायत । चन्द्रमा मनसो जातश्चक्षोः सूर्यो अजायत । श्रोत्राद्वायुश्च प्राणश्च हृदयात्सर्वमिदं जायते
Transliteración (IAST)
brāhmaṇo'sya mukhamāsīdbāhū rājanyaḥ kṛtaḥ | ūrū tadasya yadvaiśyaḥ padbhyāṃ śūdro ajāyata | candramā manaso jātaścakṣoḥ sūryo ajāyata | śrotrādvāyuśca prāṇaśca hṛdayātsarvamidaṃ jāyate
Palabra por palabra
SánscritoIASTSignificado
ब्राह्मणः अस्य मुखम् आसीत्brāhmaṇaḥ asya mukham āsītthe brāhmaṇa was his mouth; the priest became his mouth
बाहू राजन्यः कृतःbāhū rājanyaḥ kṛtaḥof his arms the kṣatriya was made; the warrior was fashioned from the arms
ऊरू तत् अस्य यत् वैश्यःūrū tat asya yat vaiśyaḥhis thighs — the vaiśya; his loins — the trader
पद्भ्याम् शूद्रः अजायतpadbhyām śūdraḥ ajāyatafrom the feet was born the śūdra; from the legs came the labourer
चन्द्रमाः मनसः जातःcandramāḥ manasaḥ jātaḥthe moon was born from the mind; the moon arose from thought
चक्षोः सूर्यः अजायतcakṣoḥ sūryaḥ ajāyatafrom the eye was born the sun; from the eye came the luminary
श्रोत्रात् वायुः च प्राणः चśrotrāt vāyuḥ ca prāṇaḥ cafrom the ear — wind and breath; from the hearing — air and prāṇa
हृदयात् सर्वम् इदम् जायतेhṛdayāt sarvam idam jāyatefrom the heart all this is born; from the heart proceeds the whole world
Traducción
The brāhmaṇa was his mouth, of his arms the kṣatriya was made, his thighs — the vaiśya, from the feet was born the śūdra. The moon was born from the mind, from the eye was born the sun, from the ear — wind and breath, and from the heart all this is born.
Versión
dd87455fbbbf · publicado 29 jul 2026, 4:12:03 UTC
Disponible enRUENPasa de verso en verso con
The verse is taken from the Puruṣa-sūkta — the most ancient hymn of how the world arose from the Person; the Subāla cites it almost word for word, changing only the last line.
The first half describes the origin of the estates from the limbs of the Puruṣa: mouth, arms, thighs, feet. To read this as a justification of inequality is to miss what the image is about. The body is named because its limbs do not compete: the mouth is not above the feet in the sense in which the rich man is above the poor; they are different, and all are needed. The unity of the body matters more here than hierarchy, and an Upaniṣad which a few lines further on will declare the one Nārāyaṇa the soul of all beings can hardly have had division in mind.
The second half traces the universe too to the same Puruṣa: the moon from the mind, the sun from the eye, wind and breath from the ear. These correspondences are constant in the Veda and work in both directions: what the sun is to the universe, the eye is to man.
But the last line is its own, and in it lies the verse's whole force. The Puruṣa-sūkta at this point goes on enumerating; the Subāla breaks off the list and says: “and from the heart all this is born”.
The heart is named not as one source among others, alongside eye and ear, but as that from which — everything. Thus is set the theme to which the book will keep returning: the fourth khaṇḍa will describe the lotus of the heart and its channels, and the sixth will name Him who dwells in it.