उपनिषद् · Atharvaśiras 10
॥
देवनागरी
यो वै रुद्रः स भगवान् ये चाष्टौ ग्रहास् तस्मै वै नमोनमः
लिप्यंतरण (IAST)
yo vai rudraḥ sa bhagavān ye cāṣṭau grahās tasmai vai namonamaḥ
शब्दशः अर्थ
संस्कृतIASTअर्थ
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 ग्रहाःye ca aṣṭau grahāḥand which are the eight seizers; and those that are the eight grahas
तस्मै वै नमः नमःtasmai vai namaḥ namaḥto him be homage and homage; to him obeisance and obeisance
अनुवाद
He who is Rudra — He is the Lord, and He is the eight seizers. To Him be homage and homage.
संस्करण
e0fd11181296 · प्रकाशित 29 जुल॰ 2026, 3:17:52 am UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
The ninth name is “the eight grahas”.
Graha means “seizer, taker”. Usually the word names the planets, and usually they are nine: the seven luminaries plus Rāhu and Ketu. Here they are eight; this count occurs in the old books and means, apparently, the row without Ketu.
But the word has another, ritual sense: a graha is the cup with which soma is drawn at the sacrifice, and exactly eight such cups were counted.
Both senses are in place, and the book seems to play on both: right after the name of Soma are named the eight cups by which he is drawn — and they are also the eight luminaries that take hold of a man in their seasons.
In the third mantra of the first upaniṣad of the pūrva-tāpanī of the Rāma-tāpanī, Rāma Himself — who covered the demons with a human form — was compared to Rāhu. There the seizer was an image; here it is a name.
The next section will name “the eight counter-grahas”, and that is a riddle indeed.