उपनिषद् · Kena 3.12
॥
देवनागरी
स तस्मिन्न् एवाकाशे स्त्रियम् आजगाम बहुशोभमानाम् उमां हैमवतीं तां होवाच किम् एतद् यक्षम् इति ॥
लिप्यंतरण (IAST)
sa tasminn evākāśe striyam ājagāma bahuśobhamānām umāṃ haimavatīṃ tāṃ hovāca kim etad yakṣam iti ||
शब्दशः अर्थ
संस्कृतIASTअर्थ
सःsaḥhe; Indra
तस्मिन् एवtasmin evain that very; in the same
आकाशेākāśespace; ether; the open sky
स्त्रियम्striyama woman; a female form; a maiden
आजगामājagāmacame upon; approached
बहुशोभमानाम्bahuśobhamānāmgreatly shining (bahu-śobhamānā — 'exceedingly resplendent'); of great beauty; radiant
उमाम्umāmUmā; the goddess Umā; Umā the Wisdom
हैमवतीम्haimavatīmHaimavatī ('daughter of Himavat, the snowy mountain'); born of the Himālaya; she of the snowy peaks
ताम्tāmher; to her
हhaindeed; truly
उवाचuvācasaid; asked
किम्kimwhat; who
एतत्etatthis; here
यक्षम्yakṣammysterious being; wondrous apparition
इतिitithus; saying
अनुवाद
And in that very space he came upon a woman of great beauty — Umā, the daughter of Himavat — and asked her: "What is this yakṣa?"
संस्करण
627823e527fb · प्रकाशित 26 जुल॰ 2026, 7:28:41 pm UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
tasminn evākāśe — "in that very space": Indra did not leave the place where the vision had vanished. Faithfulness to the place of meeting is the gesture of a seeking heart: where He appeared and hid Himself, there stand and there ask.
And to the seeker appears bahu-śobhamānā — "the greatly shining" — Umā Haimavatī. Where fire and wind fell back, knowledge is brought not by a fourth power but by feminine Wisdom — the Lord's own spiritual energy, His self-revealing grace. The sense of this is decisive for the whole Upaniṣad: Brahman, whom neither heat nor onslaught can seize, is known through His own gracious śakti — knowledge about God comes from God, from God's side, as a gift and not as spoils. The name Haimavatī — "daughter of the snowy mountain" — adds to the image the height and purity of unmelting summits.
And here is the change for whose sake all this happened: the king of the gods puts his question — kim etad yakṣam — not as an order to a subordinate but as a pupil asking one who knows. Agni and Vāyu sent and commanded; Indra bows and inquires. The gates of knowledge are opened not by force but by a question asked humbly and at the right address.