Ekaṃ sad viprā bahudhā vadanti
इन्द्रं मित्रं वरुणमग्निमाहुरथो दिव्यः स सुपर्णो गरुत्मान् ।
एकं सद्विप्रा बहुधा वदन्त्यग्निं यमं मातरिश्वानमाहुः ॥
indraṃ mitraṃ varuṇamagnimāhuratho divyaḥ sa suparṇo garutmān |
ekaṃ sadviprā bahudhā vadantyagniṃ yamaṃ mātariśvānamāhuḥ ||
Translation
They call it Indra, Mitra, Varuṇa, Agni; and it is the heavenly, fine-winged Garutmant. What is one, the inspired poets speak of in many ways: they call it Agni, Yama, Mātariśvan.
Meaning
This verse comes from the "Asya vāmasya" hymn (Ṛgveda 1.164), a long chain of riddles ascribed to the seer Dīrghatamas. The page header gives the deity of verses 46 and 47 as Sūrya, the sun: in context the "one" is probably the sun-bird of the riddles, which people name with many gods' names.
Look at the grammar: the poets name masculine gods, but what they name is ekaṃ sat, neuter, "one being". That shift is why the second line became one of the most quoted sentences in Indian thought, read as saying that one reality stands behind the many names of the divine.
It is a good example of how a Vedic riddle-verse can carry a philosophical idea long before the Upaniṣads state it in prose.
Word by word · 17 words
| Devanagari | IAST | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| इन्द्रम् | indram | Indra (acc.) |
| मित्रम् | mitram | Mitra (acc.) |
| वरुणम् | varuṇam | Varuṇa (acc.) |
| अग्निम् | agnim | Agni, fire (acc.) |
| आहुः | āhuḥ | they call (it), they say (perfect of √ah used as present, 3rd pl.) |
| अथो | atho | and also |
| दिव्यः | divyaḥ | heavenly (nom. sg. m.) |
| सः | saḥ | he, it |
| सुपर्णः | suparṇaḥ | the fine-winged one, the great bird (nom. sg. m.) |
| गरुत्मान् | garutmān | Garutmant, "the winged one" (nom. sg. m.) |
| एकम् | ekam | one (acc. sg. n.) |
| सत् | sat | being, that which is (acc. sg. n.) |
| विप्राः | viprāḥ | the inspired poets (nom. pl. m.) |
| बहुधा | bahudhā | in many ways |
| वदन्ति | vadanti | they speak of, call (3rd pl. present) |
| यमम् | yamam | Yama (acc.) |
| मातरिश्वानम् | mātariśvānam | Mātariśvan, the wind or the bringer of fire (acc.) |
Pronunciation
indraṃ mitraṃ varuṇamagnimāhuratho divyaḥ sa suparṇo garutmān |
ekaṃ sadviprā bahudhā vadantyagniṃ yamaṃ mātariśvānamāhuḥ ||
- sadviprā: the t of sat becomes d before v (sandhi), sad-vip-rā.
- vadantyagniṃ = vadanti + agniṃ: the i turns into a y glide, va-dan-tyag-niṃ.
- A final visarga ḥ is a soft "h" breath that echoes the vowel before it: namaḥ sounds like "nama-ha" (lightly).
- ṃ (anusvāra) is a nasal: it sounds like m before p/b/m, n before t/d, ṅ before k/g, and a nasalised vowel before s/ś/h.