उपनिषद् · Kṛṣṇa 1.13
॥
देवनागरी
अष्टावष्टसहस्रे द्वे शताधिक्यः स्त्रियस्तथा । ऋचोपनिषदस्ता वै ब्रह्मरूपा ऋचः स्त्रियाः
लिप्यंतरण (IAST)
aṣṭāvaṣṭasahasre dve śatādhikyaḥ striyastathā | ṛcopaniṣadastā vai brahmarūpā ṛcaḥ striyāḥ
शब्दशः अर्थ
संस्कृतIASTअर्थ
अष्टौ अष्ट-सहस्रे द्वे शत-आधिक्यःaṣṭau aṣṭa-sahasre dve śata-ādhikyaḥeight, sixteen thousand, two hundred more
स्त्रियः तथाstriyaḥ tathāwives, likewise
ऋचः उपनिषदः ताः वैṛcaḥ upaniṣadaḥ tāḥ vaithey are hymns and upaniṣads
ब्रह्म-रूपाः ऋचः स्त्रियाःbrahma-rūpāḥ ṛcaḥ striyāḥhaving the form of brahman, the hymns — wives
अनुवाद
"Eight, sixteen thousand and two hundred more wives — they are hymns and upaniṣads; the hymns, having the form of brahman, are wives."
संस्करण
fcea3a319802 · प्रकाशित 12 अग॰ 2026, 5:00:00 am UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
Kṛṣṇa's wives are named: eight chief ones and sixteen thousand one hundred; and it is said that they are ṛcaḥ upaniṣadaḥ, "hymns and upaniṣads." This correspondence is worth examining, for it is not arbitrary. The word ṛc ("hymn") and the word upaniṣad are both feminine in gender; and in Indian literature speech, vāc, is a feminine principle. Hence Sarasvatī, the goddess of speech.
That is, the correspondence rests on grammar, not on invention. Let us add what stands behind it in substance and is worth voicing. If the hymns are wives, the relation to the word is described as conjugal, not scholastic. One does not study the word — one lives with it.
The Vaiṣṇava side holds this relation and voices it in practice: a book, for her, is not "read" but śravaṇaṃ kurvanti, "listened to"; and that listening is at the same time service was discussed when reading the Mahāvākya (p3). Let us add a caution that naturally arises here. The sixteen thousand wives are a detail most often mocked in these stories; and it is worth saying that the Bhāgavatam itself explains it: they were princesses abducted and imprisoned by Narakāsura, and after his slaying no one would have married them.
That is, the marriage was not an acquisition but a rescue; and anyone who has read the story, not a retelling, knows this.