Upaniṣads · Atharvaśiras 11
॥
Devanāgarī
यो वै रुद्रः स भगवान् ये चाष्टौ प्रतिग्रहास् तस्मै वै नमोनमः
Transliteración (IAST)
yo vai rudraḥ sa bhagavān ye cāṣṭau pratigrahās tasmai vai namonamaḥ
Palabra por palabra
SánscritoIASTSignificado
यः वै रुद्रःyaḥ vai rudraḥhe who is Rudra; the one who is Rudra
सः भगवान्saḥ bhagavānhe is the Lord; he indeed is the Bhagavān
ये च अष्टौ प्रतिग्रहाःye ca aṣṭau pratigrahāḥand which are the eight receivers; and those that are the eight pratigrahas
तस्मै वै नमः नमःtasmai vai namaḥ namaḥto him be homage and homage; to him obeisance and obeisance
Traducción
He who is Rudra — He is the Lord, and He is the eight receivers. To Him be homage and homage.
Versión
f2156a891604 · publicado 29 jul 2026, 3:17:52 UTC
Disponible enRUENPasa de verso en verso con
The tenth name is “the eight pratigrahas”, and it is dark.
Pratigraha means “acceptance, the receiving of a gift”; in the rite it is both the cup from which one sips in reply and the very custom of accepting an offering.
If the previous section named the eight drawing-cups, this one names the eight receiving ones: that with which one takes, and that with which one gives back.
There is another reading: the pratigrahas are counteracting powers, those that ward off the seizers. Then the pair comes out thus: eight that take hold of a man and eight that beat them off.
To choose between the readings by this one word is impossible, and I will not pretend it can be done.
The general structure matters more. The litany has now twice set a pair of opposites side by side: sun and moon, seizers and receivers. And each time both halves are referred to One.
The first section said the same in the first person: “I am the imperishable and the perishable”, “I am man, non-man and women”. The book consistently takes opposites in pairs.