Upaniṣads · Rudrākṣajābāla 1.16
॥
Devanāgarī
षट्त्रिंशतं गले दध्यात्बाहोः षोडशषोडश । मणिबन्धे द्वादशैव स्कन्धे पञ्चशतं वहेत्
Transliteración (IAST)
ṣaṭtriṃśataṃ gale dadhyātbāhoḥ ṣoḍaśaṣoḍaśa | maṇibandhe dvādaśaiva skandhe pañcaśataṃ vahet
Palabra por palabra
SánscritoIASTSignificado
षट्-त्रिंशतं गले दध्यात्ṣaṭ-triṃśataṃ gale dadhyātthirty-six let him place on the neck
बाहोः षोडश-षोडशbāhoḥ ṣoḍaśa-ṣoḍaśaon the arm, sixteen and sixteen
मणि-बन्धे द्वादश एवmaṇi-bandhe dvādaśa evaon the wrist, twelve exactly
स्कन्धे पञ्च-शतं वहेत्skandhe pañca-śataṃ vaheton the shoulder let him wear five hundred
Traducción
Thirty-six let him place on the neck, sixteen and sixteen on the arms, twelve exactly on the wrist, five hundred let him wear on the shoulder.
Versión
88acfb14f825 · publicado 12 ago 2026, 5:00:00 UTC
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The numbers are laid out by place on the body: thirty-six, sixteen each, twelve, five hundred. It is worth noting that these numbers are neither arbitrary nor round. Thirty-six is the number of tattvas in the Śaiva reckoning of principles; sixteen is the number of the moon's phases; twelve is the number of months and suns.
Behind the mapping, then, stands the idea of correspondence: the wearer's body is likened to the structure of the world, and at each of its places as many signs are placed as there are corresponding principles in the world. This idea is pervasive in Indian books and is not empty in itself. It means that a person is not a scrap of matter that happened into the world, but is made to the same measure; and so everything on the outside answers to something within.
The Vaiṣṇava side shares this idea and expresses it through the virāṭ-rūpa, the universal form, where the sun is the eye, the wind the breath, the directions of space the ears (Bhāgavatam 2.1.30, Gītā 11). The correspondence there is the same, but turned the other way: it is not the world measured by the person, but the person recognizing in the world the features of the One to whom he belongs. The difference between the two turns is not in the numbers but in where the looker looks. In the first case he finds the world's structure in himself and stops there; in the second he finds a face in the world and begins from there.