Upanishads · Rāma-tāpanī Uttara 3.12
॥
Devanāgarī
इति ॥ अथ स होवाच श्रीरामः - क्षेत्रेऽस्मिंस्तव देवेश यत्र कुत्रापि वा मृताः । कृमिकीटादयोऽप्याशु मुक्ताः सन्तु न चान्यथा
Transliteration (IAST)
iti || atha sa hovāca śrīrāmaḥ - kṣetre'smiṃstava deveśa yatra kutrāpi vā mṛtāḥ | kṛmikīṭādayo'pyāśu muktāḥ santu na cānyathā
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
अथ सः ह उवाच श्रीरामःatha saḥ ha uvāca śrīrāmaḥthen Śrī-Rāma said; then Śrī-Rāma spoke
क्षेत्रे अस्मिन् तव देवेशkṣetre asmin tava deveśain this thy field, O lord of gods; in this thy domain, master of the celestials
यत्र कुत्रापि वा मृताःyatra kutrāpi vā mṛtāḥwherever they may die; those dying anywhere at all
कृमिकीटादयः अपि आशुkṛmikīṭādayaḥ api āśueven worms and insects — at once; though worms and vermin — immediately
मुक्ताः सन्तु न च अन्यथाmuktāḥ santu na ca anyathālet them be freed, and not otherwise; let them become free, not otherwise
Translation
Then Śrī-Rāma said: “In this thy field, O lord of the gods, wherever they die — even worms and insects — let them at once be freed, and not otherwise!”
Version
083b203133fa · published Jul 29, 2026, 5:15:19 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The boon is given, and given more bountifully than was asked.
Śiva asked for those dying at Maṇikarṇikā and on the Gaṅgā's bank. Rāma answers: yatra kutrāpi — “wherever”, over the whole field; and adds what was not asked: kṛmi-kīṭādayaḥ — “even worms and insects”.
This addition is the chief thing here.
In all the lists we have read in this book there was an order: nearest Sītā, then the bhakta, then the brothers, allies, ministers, gods, serpents. The chart went by degrees of closeness.
Here the order is annulled. The worms are named level with all, and named outright.
The Vaiṣṇava tradition returns to such places constantly, because in them one sees how grace differs from reward. A reward is received by desert, and a worm has none. What is given is given by the place where he happened to be, and by him who asked for that place.
Note too the turn na cānyathā — “and not otherwise”, that is, without exceptions. This word sets a seal on the promise.
And more: Rāma says “in this thy field”, tava kṣetre. The city He does not take for Himself.