Upaniṣads · Jābāladarśana 4.38
॥
Devanāgarī
कुहोः क्षुद्देवता प्रोक्ता गान्धारी चन्द्रदेवता । शङ्खिन्याश्चन्द्रमास्तद्वत्पयस्विन्याः प्रजापतिः
Transliteración (IAST)
kuhoḥ kṣuddevatā proktā gāndhārī candradevatā | śaṅkhinyāścandramāstadvatpayasvinyāḥ prajāpatiḥ
Palabra por palabra
SánscritoIASTSignificado
कुहोः क्षुत्-देवता प्रोक्ताkuhoḥ kṣut-devatā proktāof kuhu, hunger is named the deity
गान्धारी चन्द्र-देवताgāndhārī candra-devatāof gandhari, the deity is the moon
शङ्खिन्याः चन्द्रमाः तत्-वत्śaṅkhinyāḥ candramāḥ tat-vatof shankhini, likewise the moon
पयस्विन्याः प्रजापतिःpayasvinyāḥ prajāpatiḥof payasvini, Prajapati
Traducción
"Of kuhu, hunger is named the deity; of gandhari, the deity is the moon; of shankhini, likewise the moon; of payasvini, Prajapati."
Versión
ccae71c36920 · publicado 12 ago 2026, 5:00:00 UTC
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Worth noting is that among the deities is named kshut, "hunger." Hunger as a deity is a strange thing to our ear, but customary to the Vedic mind. In the ancient books, hunger, death, and time are not abstractions, but persons, and are treated as persons.
The Brihadaranyaka opens with exactly this: "In the beginning there was nothing here at all; all this was covered by Death, that is, by Hunger, for hunger is death" (1.2.1). The identification of hunger with death deserves examination, for it is deeper than it seems. Hunger is a lack; and every living thing lives by lack: it is always deprived of something, and hence reaches. And what reaches, sooner or later comes to an end.
Hence hunger is called death: not because one dies of it, but because it is the very manner of a mortal's existence. The Vaishnava side accepts this observation and builds upon it its own description of liberation. Liberated is not one who has ceased to desire, but one who has been satisfied; and of the word suprasidati, "becomes fully satisfied," we spoke when reading the twenty-second line.
Let us add a distinction worth stating. Hunger is quenched in two ways: by diminishing the one who desires, and by supplying what is desired. The first way leads to extinction, the second to satiety; and though from the outside both look like the cessation of hunger, the resulting states are opposite.