Mudgala Upanishad

Mudgala Upanishad
The text states Vishnu is the primordial, metaphysical reality and the individual soul[1][2]
Devanagariमुद्गल
IASTMudgala
Title meansnamed after a Vedic sage
TypeSamanya[3]
Linked VedaRigveda[3]
Chapters4
PhilosophyVaishnavism[3]

The Mudgala Upanishad (Sanskrit: मुद्गल उपनिषत्, IAST: Mudgala Upaniṣad) is a Sanskrit text and a major Upanishad of Hinduism.[4] It is classified as a Samanya Upanishad and attached to the Rigveda.[3]

The Mudgala Upanishad, along with Subala Upanishad, is one of the two Upanishads that discuss the Purusha Sukta of Rigveda.[1] It is notable for asserting that Narayana (Vishnu) is the Brahman (Highest reality, Supreme being), that he created the universe from a fourth part of himself, then became himself the Atman (soul) in individual living beings.[4][5]

The text asserts that Narayana is Moksha (liberation), representing the state of union between the Atman and the Brahman.[1][2] The text is notable in that it presents only the first nine verses of the Purusha Sukta, and the absence of last seven verses that describe the creation of living beings and varna (social classes) considered by scholars to be a later addition.[1][6]

  1. ^ a b c d Gonda 1968, pp. 101–113.
  2. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference vediclittn521 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b c d Tinoco 1996, p. 87.
  4. ^ a b Jan Gonda 1975, p. 499.
  5. ^ Mahadevan 1975, p. 182.
  6. ^ Jamison 2014, pp. 57–58.