Śruti / The four Vedas / Yajurveda · 7 of 10
7. Śrī Rudram
Yajurveda (यजुर्वेद)
Śrī Rudram (श्रीरुद्रम्), also called the Rudra chapter, is the long address to Rudra (रुद्र) inside the Yajurveda. The black saṃhitā and the white saṃhitā both carry it. The opening verse sits above. Homage begins with the wrath, the arrow, the bow, and the arms. The frightening part is not left outside the reverence. It is the first thing revered, so that the destroyer is met as himself and then asked to be gentle.The first large movement is the namakam (नमकम्), the section built on namaḥ (नमः). Homage goes to Rudra in many places and many tempers: the one in the forest, the one who is kind, the one who is fierce, the carpenter, the hunter, the lord of paths. This page does not turn that list into a pūjā script, and it does not give a count of repetitions. The shape is the teaching. Nothing Rudra is, in the world of work and in the world of fear, is refused a homage.
The second movement is the camakam (चमकम्), built on ca me (च मे), and for me. After the homage comes the asking. The ask is large: what supports a life, what supports a sacrifice, what supports a mind. This page does not catalogue the gifts and does not write them as a list to perform. The point of the shape is the turn from bowing to asking, and the size of the ask, which is a whole life set in front of the same god whose arrow was named.
A later devotion will call Śiva what this chapter calls Rudra, and will sing a thousand names. That fullness is later. The root kept here is the Yajurveda's own: the dangerous god is the god who can be asked to look with a gentle eye, and the formula of the rite is large enough to hold both the fear and the request.
नमस्ते रुद्र मन्यव उतोत इषवे नमः ।
नमस्ते अस्तु धन्वने बाहुभ्यामुत ते नमः ॥ namas te rudra manyava utota iṣave namaḥ |
namas te astu dhanvane bāhubhyām uta te namaḥ ||
Homage to your wrath, Rudra, and homage to your arrow. Homage to your bow, and homage to your two arms. The Taittirīya Saṃhitā (तैत्तिरीय संहिता) 4.5.1 and the Vājasaneyi Saṃhitā (वाजसनेयि संहिता) 16.1 both carry this opening. The rest of the litany is told as a shape, not copied out.
| Word | Grammar | Sense |
|---|---|---|
| namaḥ (नमः) | indeclinable | Homage. Heard namas before te. |
| te (ते) | dative enclitic | To you. For you. |
| rudra (रुद्र) | vocative singular | Rudra. The one addressed. |
| manyave (मन्यवे) | dative singular of manyu (मन्यु) | To your wrath. Heard manyava in the saṃhitā before uto. |
| uto (उतो) | indeclinable, uta + u | And also. |
| te (ते) | dative enclitic | To your. Heard ta before iṣave. Heard together as utota iṣave. |
| iṣave (इषवे) | dative singular of iṣu (इषु) | To the arrow. |
| astu (अस्तु) | imperative, third person singular, of as (अस्) | May there be. May homage be. |
| dhanvane (धन्वने) | dative singular of dhanvan (धन्वन्) | To the bow. |
| bāhubhyām (बाहुभ्याम्) | dative dual | To the two arms. |
नेपालीमा
श्रीरुद्रम् यजुर्वेदभित्र रुद्रलाई गरिएको लामो नमस्कार हो। तैत्तिरीय संहिता ४.५.१ र वाजसनेयि १६.१ दुवैमा सुरुको ऋचा छ। पहिले रिस, बाण, धनु र बाहुलाई नमस्कार गरिन्छ। डरलाग्दो अंश बाहिर छोडिँदैन।
नमकम् नमःबाट बनेको खण्ड हो। चमकम् च मे, अर्थात् मलाई पनि, बाट बनेको खण्ड हो। यो पृष्ठले पूजाको विधि, जपको गिन्ती, र चढाउने सूची दिँदैन। आकार नै शिक्षा हो। पहिले निहुरिन्छ, अनि मागिन्छ।
Where it sits
The sung Veda is the next sitting. Rudra's fewer ṛgvedic hymns were named with the gods.