Upanishads · Rāma-tāpanī Uttara 1.1
॥
Devanāgarī
ओं बृहस्पतिरुवाच याज्ञवल्क्यम् । यदनु कुरुक्षेत्रं देवानां देवयजनं सर्वेषां भूतानां ब्रह्मसदनम्
Transliteration (IAST)
oṃ bṛhaspatiruvāca yājñavalkyam | yadanu kurukṣetraṃ devānāṃ devayajanaṃ sarveṣāṃ bhūtānāṃ brahmasadanam
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
ओं बृहस्पतिः उवाच याज्ञवल्क्यम्oṃ bṛhaspatiḥ uvāca yājñavalkyamOṁ. Bṛhaspati said to Yājñavalkya; Oṁ. Bṛhaspati addressed Yājñavalkya
यत् अनु कुरुक्षेत्रम्yat anu kurukṣetramwhat is Kurukṣetra; that which is the field of Kuru
देवानाम् देवयजनम्devānām devayajanamthe gods' place of sacrifice; the sacrificial ground of the celestials
सर्वेषाम् भूतानाम् ब्रह्मसदनम्sarveṣām bhūtānām brahmasadanamthe abode of Brahman for all beings; the hall of Brahman for every creature
Translation
Oṁ. Bṛhaspati said to Yājñavalkya: “What is that Kurukṣetra — the gods' place of sacrifice, the abode of Brahman for all beings?”
Version
aafa1123970d · published Jul 29, 2026, 5:15:19 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The second half of the book begins, and begins quite otherwise than the first.
The pūrva-tāpanī was in verse: the name, the form, the diagram, the rite. The uttara-tāpanī is prose, and dialogic prose: question and answer. So the oldest Upaniṣads are written.
The asker is Bṛhaspati, the preceptor of the gods; the answerer is Yājñavalkya — the very sage on whose conversations the whole Bṛhadāraṇyaka rests.
The question is about Kurukṣetra. Everyone knows the place: there the Pāṇḍavas and Kauravas met, there the Gītā was spoken. And it is named with two old turns: “the gods' place of sacrifice” and “the abode of Brahman for all beings”.
But the question is not of geography. The answer — in the next verse — will name as Kurukṣetra that which is called avimukta, “the unabandoned”; and it will prove that the speech is of the place where Rudra at death tells the departing one the tāraka.
This device is constant in the Upaniṣads: a known name is taken, and it is shown to mean not what was thought.
Note too who asks. Bṛhaspati is a preceptor; he is no ignoramus. In these books one asks not because one knows nothing, but because one wants to know truly.