Rama Tapaniya Upanishad
Rama andSita enthroned, attended byLakshmana andHanuman
Devanagari	राम तापनीय
IAST	Rāma Tāpanīya
Title means	Upanishad of the penance towards Rama
Date	16th-century
Type	Vaishnava[1]
LinkedVeda	Atharvaveda[2]
Chapters	2[1]
Verses	94 in Rama Purva, 5 prose sections in Rama Uttara[3]
Philosophy	Vaishnava[4]

TheRama Tapaniya Upanishad (राम तापनीय उपनिषत्) also calledRamatapaniyopanishad (रामतापिनियोपनिषत्) is a minorUpanishadic text written inSanskrit. It is one of the 31 Upanishads attached to theAtharvaveda,^[2] and is classified as aVaishnava Upanishad.^[4]

The text is in two parts, the early part calledRama purva Tapaniya Upanishad and the later part calledRama uttara Tapaniya Upanishad, which together withRamarahasya Upanishad areVaishnava Upanishads devoted to the Hindu godRama.^[5][6][7] The text presentsRama as equivalent to theAtman (soul, self) and theBrahman (Ultimate Reality).^[7][8]

The Upanishad is modeled after theNrisimha Tapaniya Upanishad.^[1] It heavily borrows from theVedic texts and thePrincipal Upanishads, praises the characters in the epic story of Rama, and then presentsOm, the Ramayantra, and the Ramamantra.^[1][9]

Professor Moriz Winternitz, a german scholar, dates Rama Tapaniya Upanishad to 16th century.^[10] Also Lakshmana Desikendra of 15th Century, refers Rama Tapaniya Upanishad in his workSarada Tilaka.

The Rama Tapaniya Upanishad is composed in the style of the older pre-7th century Vaishnava text, theNrisimha Tapaniya Upanishad.^[9]

According toFarquhar, a colonial era Christian missionary and an Orientalist, "Ramaite sect" is not evidenced in theValmiki Ramayana.^[11] Instead, according to Farquhar, it is the Rama purva Tapaniya Upanishad where this sect is implied, and wherein Rama is the ultimate unchanging reality of Hindu philosophy called Brahman, as enunciated in the mantra ofRama Ramaya namah and a "mystic diagram".^[11] Farquhar adds that Rama uttara Tapaniya portion of the Upanishad is based on texts borrowed from many older Upanishads and may be of later origin.^[11]

According to Ramdas Lamb and other scholars such asPaul Deussen, theRama Tapaniya Upanishad, like other sectarian texts, has layers of material which were likely composed over time.^[1][12] It probably went through a process of writing where Brahmanical value system was added.^[12] Further, states Lamb, the text was modeled after the popularNrisimha Tapaniya Upanishad, both in structure (Purva and Uttara sections), as well as the core message that deity Rama is identical to Atman and Brahman.^[12]

In theTelugu languageanthology of 108 Upanishads of theMuktika canon, narrated byRama toHanuman, it is listed byPaul Deussen – a GermanIndologist and professor of philosophy, at number 55 and in the compilation of Upanishads by Narayana – an Indian scholar who lived sometime after the 14th-century CE, and republished in the modern era as the Bibliothica Indica edition at number 36.^[13]

The text of the Upanishad is presented in two sections –Rama purva Tapaniya Upanishad andRama uttara Tapaniya Upanishad.

The Purva position of theRama Tapaniya Upanishad, says Ramdas Lamb – a professor of Religion, the folk-etymology of the word Rama is presented. Rama, asserts the text, means "he who rules" (ra jate) over the kingdom of "earth"(ma-hi).^[9] He is also known as Rama, states the text, because theYogins delight in him asra-mante (literally one in whom they take delight).^[9] In verses 7–10, the text states that Rama is manifest ultimate reality, that is Brahman.^[1]

The Upanishad's major emphasis is on the Rama mantraRama Ramaya namaha. Here, states Lamb, thebeej mantra (seed) is asserted to contain the whole animate world, and all that exists is sourced in Rama andSita.^[7] The Yogi who realizes the identity of Rama withBrahman andAtman (Soul) reaches liberation, states the Upanishad.^[9]

The initial verses of the Rama purva Tapaniya, says Lamb, extolls Rama and Sita with other major characters in theRamakatha (the epic story of Rama). The Upanishad then defines the formula for erecting the Rama Yantra, the mystical mantra, with directions to inscribe beej mantra and other mantras. In the concluding section the text asserts that Rama worship leads one to the highest place and the attainment of liberation.^[12]

The Uttara portion of theRama Tapaniya text, states Lamb, asserts that Shiva repeated the Rama mantra for thousands of ages, and Rama then gave him the boon whereby if Shiva would whisper the Rama taraka mantra in a dying man's ear, he would be liberated.^[12] The Uttara Tapaniya discusses theOm mantra but without predominance over the Ramamantra. The Upanishad also prescribes mantras to worship goddess Sita, Rama's three siblings (Bharata,Lakshmana, andShatrughna), and alsoHanuman.^[12]

The Rama uttara Tapaniya sections borrow from ancient Upanishads such as theJabala Upanishad, and theMandukya Upanishad.^[15] The Om mantra, asserts the text in section 2 of Uttara, is identical to Brahman calledsatcitananda.^[16] In section 3, the text describes the four states of consciousness, asserting that the fourth and the highest inner state is one of "certitude of one own self, the calm, the one without a second, that which is the Atman which should be known" and which is same as Brahman and Rama.^[17] The one who realizes that "I am Atman", "I am Rama", and "I am Brahman" has realized the supreme light, the Ramabhadra, the bliss of liberation, states the Upanishad.^[18]

• Maithili Maha Upanishad
• Nrisimha Tapaniya Upanishad
• Mahanarayana Upanishad
• Narayana Upanishad

• Colebrooke, Henry Thomas (1837).Miscellaneous Essays: In Two Volumes. Allen.ISBN 978-0-371-84051-1.{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
• Deussen, Paul (1997).Sixty Upanishads of the Veda. Motilal Banarsidass.ISBN 978-81-208-1467-7.
• Dodiya, Jaydipsinh (1 January 2001).Critical Perspectives on the Rāmāyaṇa. Sarup & Sons.ISBN 978-81-7625-244-7.
• Farquhar, J. N. (1 January 1984).Outline of the Religious Literature of India. Motilal Banarsidass.ISBN 978-81-208-2086-9.
• Lamb, Ramdas (29 August 2002).Rapt in the Name: The Ramnamis, Ramnam, and Untouchable Religion in Central India. SUNY Press.ISBN 978-0-7914-5386-5.
• Catherine Ludvik (1994).Hanumān in the Rāmāyaṇa of Vālmīki and the Rāmacaritamānasa of Tulasī Dāsa. Motilal Banarsidass.ISBN 978-8120811225.
• Prasoon, Prof.S.K. (1 January 2008).Indian Scriptures. Pustak Mahal.ISBN 978-81-223-1007-8.
• Tinoco, Carlos Alberto (1997).Upanishads. IBRASA.ISBN 978-85-348-0040-2.

• Upanishads

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• Short description is different from Wikidata
• CS1 errors: ISBN date