Upaniṣads · Devī 8
॥
Devanāgarī
अदितिर्ह्यजनिष्ट दक्ष या दुहिता तव । तां देवा अन्वजायन्त भद्रा अमृतबन्धवः
Transliteración (IAST)
aditirhyajaniṣṭa dakṣa yā duhitā tava | tāṃ devā anvajāyanta bhadrā amṛtabandhavaḥ
Palabra por palabra
SánscritoIASTSignificado
अदितिः हि अजनिष्टaditiḥ hi ajaniṣṭafor Aditi was born
दक्ष या दुहिता तवdakṣa yā duhitā tavaO Dakṣa, who is your daughter
तां देवाः अनु अजायन्तtāṃ devāḥ anu ajāyantaafter her the gods were born
भद्राः अ-मृत-बन्धवःbhadrāḥ a-mṛta-bandhavaḥauspicious, kin to immortality
Traducción
«For Aditi was born, O Dakṣa, who is your daughter; after her the gods were born — auspicious, kin to immortality».
Versión
9eadbe5822e0 · publicado 12 ago 2026, 5:00:00 UTC
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Here is a verse of the Ṛgveda (10.72.5) — from a hymn on the origin of the gods, one of the most enigmatic in the collection.
Its riddle lies in the fact that the neighboring lines say the reverse: dakṣād aditir ajāyata aditeś ca dakṣaḥ, “from Dakṣa Aditi was born, and from Aditi, Dakṣa” (10.72.4). That is, the father was born from the daughter, and the daughter from the father.
The ancient commentators did not smooth over this contradiction, and we should not smooth it over either. The hymn speaks of what was before order, where “earlier” and “later” had not yet been established; and ordinary kinship words are applied to it for want of others.
The Vaiṣṇava reading of such passages holds to a rule worth naming. Where scripture speaks in riddles, the answer is not to choose one half of the riddle and declare it the teaching. This very hymn ends with an admission: “who truly knows, who here can declare, whence this creation arose?” (10.129.6) — and this admission is more honest than any solution.
Worth noting is the phrase amṛta-bandhavaḥ, “kin to immortality.” Bandhu means “kin, relation.” The gods are called not immortal, but kin to immortality — that is, sharing in it through a bond, not possessing it by right. The word is exact: in these books even the gods are mortal in their term, and their age is long, not endless.