उपनिषद् · Rāma-tāpanī Uttara 3.4
॥
देवनागरी
वरणायां नास्यां च मध्ये प्रतिष्ठित इति
लिप्यंतरण (IAST)
varaṇāyāṃ nāsyāṃ ca madhye pratiṣṭhita iti
शब्दशः अर्थ
संस्कृतIASTअर्थ
वरणायाम् नास्याम् चvaraṇāyām nāsyām cain Varaṇā and in Nāsī; in Varaṇā and Nāsī
मध्ये प्रतिष्ठितः इतिmadhye pratiṣṭhitaḥ itiit is established in the middle; it is founded between them
अनुवाद
“It is established in the middle — between Varaṇā and Nāsī.”
संस्करण
69345ff2b267 · प्रकाशित 29 जुल॰ 2026, 5:15:19 am UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
The answer sounds like a pointing on a map, and the first hearing takes it so.
Varaṇā and Asi are the two streams between which Kāśī lies, and from them, by common opinion, the city got its name Vārāṇasī. Anyone hearing this will decide that the holy city is meant.
The book counts on such an understanding — in order to demolish it two paragraphs later.
The device is borrowed from the Jābāla Upaniṣad, where Atri asks Yājñavalkya the same question and receives the same answer; there too is given the explanation that will now follow.
Note the word madhye — “in the middle”. It will repeat in the explanation, and the repetition is not accidental: the sought thing is always in the middle, between two.
We have seen this structure already in the fourth Upaniṣad of the pūrva, where on the diagram the seed syllable was set between the drawer's name and his need.
The next paragraph will be a short question, and after it — the solution.