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Upanishads · Muktikā 1.1
॥
Devanāgarī
ओं अयोध्यानगरे रम्ये रत्नमण्डपमध्यमे । सीताभरतसौमित्रिशत्रुघ्नाद्यैः समन्वितम्
Transliteration (IAST)
oṃ ayodhyānagare ramye ratnamaṇḍapamadhyame | sītābharatasaumitriśatrughnādyaiḥ samanvitam
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
ओं अयोध्या-नगरे रम्येoṃ ayodhyā-nagare ramyeom, in the lovely city of Ayodhyā
रत्न-मण्डप-मध्यमेratna-maṇḍapa-madhyameamid a bejeweled pavilion
सीता-भरत-सौमित्रि-sītā-bharata-saumitri-joined with Sītā, Bharata, the son of Sumitrā
शत्रुघ्न-आद्यैः समन्वितम्śatrughna-ādyaiḥ samanvitamwith Śatrughna and the rest
Translation
«Om. In the lovely city of Ayodhyā, amid a bejeweled pavilion — joined with Sītā, Bharata, the son of Sumitrā, Śatrughna and the rest…»
Version
adf5b0174c7a · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
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The Muktikā-upaniṣad begins — the last book of this collection, and the very one from which the whole list of a hundred and eight is drawn. Having gone through a hundred and seven books, we have come to the one that names them all; and it is worth saying in advance what kind of book this is. First, it is Vaishnava: Rāma speaks in it, and Hanumān asks.
Second, it is late: a book that knows all the others by name was written after them. Third, it is an inventory and a charter: it lists the hundred and eight, distributes them among the Vedas with their peace-invocations, names four kinds of liberation, and states to whom the list may be given and to whom not. Worth noting how it opens: not with a definition and not with a question, but with a scene.
Ayodhyā, the bejeweled pavilion, and in it Rāma among his own: Sītā, Bharata, Lakṣmaṇa, Śatrughna. This detail, I think, is the first thing that sets this book apart from most of what has been read. We have read books where the highest was described as undivided consciousness, as emptiness, as a wisp of smoke over what is spent; and every time it was noted that in the description of the ultimate no one turns out to be nearby.
Here the ultimate is described as seated in the circle of his family; and the last book of the collection opens by naming who is beside him. Add the word ramye, «lovely», applied to the city: even the city is named for its beauty, not for its sanctity.