Brāh

800–5

cal, or polemical, and theological or philosophical speculations on the nature of things (upanishad). Even those which have been preserved form quite an extensive literature by themselves; yet many others must have been lost, as appears from the numerous names of and quotations from Brāhma?as unknown to us occurring in those which are extant. They reflect the spirit of an age in which all intellectual activity is concentrated on the sacrifice, describing its ceremonies, discussing its value, speculating on its origin and significance. It is only reasonable to suppose that an epoch like this, which produced no other literary monuments, lasted for a considerable time. For though the Brāhma?as are on the whole uniform in character, differences of age are traceable in them. Next to the prose portions of the Yajurvedas, the Panchavim??a and the Taittirīya

rictions imposed by metre on the style of the latter. The Brāhma?as contain some metrical pieces (gāthās), which differ from the prose in which they are imbedded by certain peculiarities of their own and by a more archaic character. Allied to these is a remarkable poem of this period, the Supar?ādhyāya, an

ese works are generally represented as meant for the use of pious men who have retired to the forest and no longer perform sacrifices. According to the view of Professor Oldenberg, they are, however,

es from which the wider circle was excluded. Being entirely devoted to theological and philosophical speculations on the nature of things, the Upanishads mark the last stage of development in the Brāhma?a literature. As they generally come at the end of the Brāhma?as, they are also called Vedānta ("end of the Veda"), a term later interpreted to mean "final goal of the Veda." "Revelation" (?ruti) was regarded as in

ole closely approaches to classical Sanskrit, the oldest Upanishads occupy

tter, which is dealt with in the ?ānkhāyana Sūtra. The last three books would further appear to have been composed at a later date than the first five, since the perfect in the former is used as a narrative tense, while in the latter it still has its original present force, as in the oldest Brāhma?as. The essential part of this Brāhma?a deals with the soma sacrifice. It treats first (1–16) of the soma rite called Agnish?oma, which

ull moon ritual, and the four-monthly sacrifices. The Soma sacrifice, however, occupies the chief position even here. The more definite and methodical treatment of the ritual in the Kaushītaki would seem to indicate that this Brāhma?a was composed at a later date than the first five books of the Aitareya. Such a conclusion is, however, not altogether borne out by a comparison of the linguistic

ountry of the Kuru-Panchālas, in which, as we have seen, the Vedic ritual must have been developed, and the hymns of the Rigveda were probably collected in the existing Sam?hitā. From the K

filment of his promise. At length, when the boy was grown up, his father, pressed by Varu?a, prepared to perform the sacrifice. Rohita, however, escaped to the forest, where he wandered for six years, while his father was afflicted with dropsy by Varu?a. At last he fell in with a starving Brahman, who consented to sell to him for a hundred cows his son ?unah??epa as a substitute. Varu?a agreed, sayin

tation from the stanzas interspersed in the story of ?unah??epa may serve as a specimen of the gāthās found in the B

father pa

hes immo

holds the

born to h

joy which l

eel, in ear

ness that

eels is gr

mes fathe

, too, have p

father's se

im to the

fe and clothes a

beauty, marriag

iend, his daugh

a light in h

ies of the Soma sacrifice from a purely ritual point of view. The first three chapters of Book II., on the other hand, are theosophical in character, containing speculations about the world-soul under the names of Prā?a and Purusha. It is allied in matter to the Upanishads, some of its more valuable thoughts recurring, occasionally even word for w

ka, the seventh and eighth to Book III., while the intervening four chapters (3–6) form the Kaushītaki Upanishad. The latter is a long and very interesting Upanishad. It se

ich for the most part is still unpublished, seems to consist of five books. The first three (unpublished) are mainly concerned with various parts of the sacrificial ceremonial. The fourth book, called the Upanishad Brāhma?a (probably "the Brāhma?a of mystic meanings"), besides all kin

vatī. Though Kurukshetra is known to it, other geographical data which it contains point to the home of this Brāhma?a having lain farther east. Noteworthy among its contents are the so-called Vrātya-Stomas, which are sacrifices meant to enable Aryan but non-Brahmanical Indians to enter the Brahmanical order. A point of interest in this Brāhma?a is the bitter hostility which it displays towards the school of the Kaushītakins. The Sha

sacrifice at all, but only with ceremonies relating to birth and marriage or prayers addressed to divine beings. These are the contents

f superstitious purposes; the Devatādhyāya Brāhma?a, containing some statements about the deities of the various chants of the Sāmaveda; the Vam??a Brāhma?a, which furnishes a genea

A prominent feature in them is the constant identification of various kinds of Sāmans or chants with all kinds of terrest

aittirīya Sam?hitā, being rather a continuation. It forms a supplement concerned with a few sacrifices omitted in the Sam?hitā, or handles, with greater fulness of detail, matters already dealt with. There is also a Taittirīya āra?yaka, which in its turn forms a supplement to the Brāhma?a. The last four of its ten sections constitute the two

gin of these parts is indicated by the absence of the change of y and v to iy and uv respectively, which otherwise prevails in the Taittirīya Brāhma?a and āra?yaka. In one of these Kā?haka sections (Taitt. Br. iii. 11), by way of illustrating th

pplements to the first three, is a kind of special Brāhma?a. Connected with this Sam?hitā, and in the manuscripts

ited by Professor Weber, and of the Kā?va school, which is in process of being edited by Professor Eggeling. The Mādhyam?dina recension consists of fourteen books, while the Kā?va has seventeen. The first nine of the former, corresponding to the original eighteen books of the Vājasaneyi Sam?hitā, doubtless form the oldest part. The fact that Book XII. is called madhyama, or "middle one," shows th

Salvas, Kekayas, belong to the north-west. In the other books Yājnavalkya is the highest authority, while hardly any but Eastern peoples, or those of the middle of Hindustan, the Kuru-Panchālas, Kosalas, Videhas, S?injayas, are named. That the original authorship of

sala, with its capital, Ayodhyā (Oudh), and Videha (Tirhut or Northern Behar), with its capital, Mithilā. The court of King Janaka of Videha was thronged with Brahmans from the Kuru-Panchāla country. The tournaments of argument which were here held form a prominent feature in the later books of the ?atapatha Brāhma?a. The hero of these is Yājnavalkya, who, himself a pupil of āru?i, is regarded as the chief spiritual au

l culture) thence went burning along this earth towards the east, followed by Mā?hava and his priest, till he came to the river Sadānīra (probably the modern Gandak, a tributary running into the Ganges near Patna), which flows from the northern mountain, and which he did not burn over. This river Brahmans did not cross in former times, thinking "it has not been burnt over by Agni Vai?vānara." At that time t

eastern countries. Blame is frequently expressed in the ?atapatha Brāhma?a of the Adhvaryu priests of the Charaka school. The latter is m

name used by the ?ākyas of Kapilavastu, among whom Buddha was born. Certain allusions are also suggestive of the beginnings of the Sānkhya doctrine; for mention is several times made of a teacher called āsuri, and according to tradition āsuri is the name of a leading authority for the Sānkhya system. If we inquire as to how far the legends of our Brāhma?a contain the germs of the later epic tales, we find that there is indeed some slight connection. Janamejaya, the celebrated king of th

r is at least alluded to. The story of the love and separation of Purūravas and Urva?ī, already dimly shadowed forth in a hymn of the Rigveda,

s myth is generally regarded as derived from a Semitic source. It tells how Manu once came into possession of a small fish, which asked him to rear it, and promised to save him from the coming flood. Having built a ship in accordan

same class, displays some progress towards facility and clearness. Its treatment of the sacrificial ceremonial, which is essentially the same in the Brāhma?a portions of the Black Yajurveda, is throughout more l

esides a few passages from the Aitareya. The main motive of this portion is the glorification of the Atharva-veda and of the fourth or brahman priest. The mention of the god ?iva points to its belonging to the post-Vedic rather than to the Brāhma?a period. Its presupposing the Atharva-veda in twenty books, and containing grammatical matters of a very advanced type, are other signs of lateness. The latter half bears more the stamp of a regular Brāhma?a, being a fairly connected account of the ritual in the sacrificial order of the Vaitāna ?rauta S

itual or practical side (karma-kā??a). Their aim is no longer the obtainment of earthly happiness and afterwards bliss in the abode of Yama by sacrificing correctly to the gods, but release from mundan

man, are identified with the gods, and so an ātman comes to be attributed to the universe. In one of the later books of the ?atapatha Brāhma?a (X. vi. 3) this ātman, which has already arrived at a high degree of abstraction, is said to "pervade this universe." Brahma (neuter) in the Rigveda signified nothing more than "prayer" or "devotion." But even in the oldest Brāhma?as it has come to have the sense of "universal holiness," as manifested in prayer, priest, and sacrifice. In the Upanishads it is the holy principle which animates nature. Having

hout heat, breath, or mouth; without personal or family name; unaging, undying, without fear, immortal, dustless, not uncovered or covered; with nothing before, nothing behind, nothing within. It consumes no one and is consumed by no one. It i

story of human thought, we find th

the ātman is given by the Kā?haka

the sun's

which it s

ods are all

ne can ever

never be to s

ay with his e

nd and soul alo

w it thus become

speech and no

eye can it

may it be

one says "it

or the Brahma was this universe. It was afraid in its loneliness and felt no pleasure. Desiring a second being, it became man and woman, whence the human race was produced.

s not appear as a whole. When it breathes, it is called breath; when it speaks, voice; when it hears, ear; when it thinks, mind. These are merely the names of its acti

The world is here explained as an illusion produced by Brahma as a conjuror (māyin). This notion is, however, inherent even in the oldest Upanishads. It is virtually identical w

his whole world consists of it: that is the Real, that is the Soul, that art thou, O ?vetaketu." In that famous formula, "That art thou" (tat tvam asi), all the teachings of the Upanishads are summed up. The B?ihadāra

as the smallest granule of millet, so is this golden Purusha in the heart.... Tha

t, replies to the question of his wife, Maitreyī, with the words: "As a lump of salt thrown into the water would dissolve and could not be taken out again, while the water, wherever tasted, would be salt, so is this great being endless, unlimited, simpl

der goes out of itself by means of its thread, as tiny sparks leap out of the

stanza from the Mu

ow and disap

ers, name and

ge, released fr

he divine and

s the "inner guide" (antaryāmin): "Who is in all beings, different from all bein

ind, and other natural phenomena, or even in the (waking) soul (ātman), but is either the dreaming soul, which is creative, assuming any form at pleasure, or, in the highest stage, the soul in dreamless

as teaching the nature of the ātman in three stages. The soul in the body as reflected in a mirror or

e, is indicated by the form in which questions are put. Thus two different sages in the B?ihadāra?yaka (iii. 4, 5) successively a

hus it is here said that those who have correct knowledge and perform a certain sacrifice are born again after death for immortality, while those who have not such knowledge and do not perform this sacrifice are reborn again and again, becoming the prey of Death. The notion here expressed does not go beyond repeated births and deaths in the next world. It is transformed to the doctrine of transmigration in the Upanishads by supposing rebirth to take place in this world. In the B?ihad

s to absorption in Brahma, while the householder who has performed sacrifice and good works goes by the pit?iyā?a or "path of the Fathers" to the moon, where he remains till the consequences of his actions are exhausted. He then returns to earth, being first born again as a plant and

e gods and the sun to the world of Brahma, whence there is no return. Those who practise sacrifice and good works pass through the

nce some go by the "path of the Fathers" to Brahma, while others return to various forms of earthly exist

swer to the question, whether man exists after death or no. Death replies: "Even the gods have doubted about this; it is a subtle point; choose another boon." After vain efforts to evade the question by offering Nachiketas earthly power and riches, Yama at last yiel

y passion

es in the

gains imm

s obtained by

ence to the highest knowledge is probably the prototype of the legend of the temptati

be divided chronologically, on internal evidence, into four classes. The oldest group, consisting, in chronological order, of the B?ihadāra?yaka, Chhāndogya, Taittirīya, Aitareya, Kaushītaki, is written in prose which still suffers from the awkwardness of the Brāhma?a style. A transition is formed by the Kena, which is partly in verse and partly in prose, to a decidedly later class, the Kā?haka, ī?ā, ?vetā?vatara, Mu??aka, Mahānārāya?a, which are metrical, and in which the Upanishad doctrine is no longer developing, but has become fixed. These are more

Rigveda, but the primeval man is in the Upanishad described as having been produced by the ātman from the waters which it created. The ātman is here said to occupy three abodes in man, the senses, mind, and heart, to which respectively correspond the three conditions of waking, dre

an. The last two, while discussing the doctrine of Brahma, contain a disquisition about the dependence of the objects of sense on the organs of sense, and of the latter on unconscious life (prā?a) and conscious life (prajnātmā). Those who aim

t allegorically, to arrive at a knowledge of the ātman or Brahma. The fact that the Upanishads have the same basis, which is, moreover, largely treated in a similar manne

s clear traces, like the latter, of being made up of collections of floating materials. Each of its eight chapters f

added as a fourth). The third chapter in the main deals with Brahma as the sun of the universe, the natural sun being its manifestation. The infinite Brahma is further described as dwelling, whole and undivided, in the heart of man. The way in which Brahma is to be attained is then described, and the great fundamental dogma of the identity of Brahma with the ātman

, water, earth). As individual soul (jīva-ātman) it entered into these, which, by certain partial combinations called "triplication," became various products (vikāra) or phenomena. But the latter are a mere name. Sat is the only reality, it is the ātman: "Thou art that." Chapter vii. enumerates sixteen forms in which Brahma may be adored, rising by gradation from nāman, "name," to bhūman, "infinity," which is the all-in-all and th

m its initial word. It consists of two distinct parts. The second, composed in prose and much older, describes the relation of the Vedic gods to Brahma, representing them as deriving their power from and entirely dependent on

eye can p

or thought c

nknown; we

ne may te

ic appearance. But its many quotations from other Upanishads, the occurrence of several late words, the developed Sānkhya doctrine presupposed by it, distinct references to anti-Vedic heretical schools, all combine to render the late character of this work undoubted. It is, in fact, a summing up of the old Upanishad doctrines with an admixture of ideas derived from the Sānkhya system and from Buddhism. The main bo

ctrine. Overcome by the three qualities of matter (prak?iti), the ātman, forgetting its real nature, becomes involved in self-consciousness and transmigration. The third question is, How is deliverance from this state of misery possible? This is answered in conformity with neither Vedānta nor Sānkhya doctrine, but in a reactionary spirit. Only those who observe the old requirements of Bra

system. The sun is further represented as the external, and prā?a (breath) as the internal, symbol of the ātman, their worship being recommended by means of the sacred syllable om, the three "utterances" (vyāh?itis) bhūr, bhuvah?, svar, and the famous Sāvitrī stanza. As a means of attaining Brahma we find a recommendation of Yoga or the ascetic practices leading to a state of mental concentration and

Upanishads of the Black Yajurveda, the Kā?haka and the ?vetā?vat

l return by means of Yoga. The second chapter, though less well arranged, on the whole corresponds in matter with the first. Its fourth section, while discussing the nature of the ātman, identifies both soul (purusha) and matter (prak?iti) with it. The fifth section deals with the manifestation of the ātman in the world, and especially in man. The way in which it at the same time remains outside them in its full integrity and is not affected by the suffering of living beings, is strikingly illustrated by the analogy of both light and air, which pervade space and yet embrace ever

es which must be referred to that work, besides many stanzas borrowed from it with or without variation. Its lateness is further indicated by the developed theory of Yoga which it contains, besides the more or less definite form in which it exhibits various Vedānta doctrines either unknown to or only foreshadowed in the earlier Upanishads. Among these may be mentioned the destruction of the world by Brahma at the end of a cosmic age (kalpa), as well as its periodic renewal out of Brahma, and especially the explanation of the world as an illusion (māyā) p

That the first and second parts were also originally independent of each other is sufficiently proved by both containing the legend of Yājnavalkya and his two wives in almost identical words throughout. To each of these parts (as well as to Book x. of the ?atapatha Brāhma?a) a successive list (vam??a) of teachers is attached. A comparison of these lists seems to justify the conclusion that the first part (called Madhukā??a) and the second (Yā

e world out of the ātman or Brahma, insisting on the dependence of all existence on the Supreme Soul, which appears in every individual as his self. The polemical attitude adopted against the worship of the gods is characteristic, showi

e most interesting conclusions here arrived at is that Brahma is theoretically unknowable, but can be comprehended practically. The second discourse is a dialogue between King Janaka and Yājnavalkya, in which the latter shows the untenableness of si

gration, and salvation. For wealth of illustration, fervour of conviction, beauty and elevation of thought, this piece is unequalled in the Upanishads or any other work of Indian li

er nest in brea

that nest, imm

sts it roves a

d only swan of spi

eam condition

apes and forms a

unt of the dreamless

together its wings and prepares to alight, so the spirit hastes to tha

fear. For as one embraced by a beloved woman wots not of anything without or within, so

be that after death they enter a new body immediately and without any intervening retri

ning and draws itself across, so the soul, after casting off the body and le

the soul after casting off the body and letting go ignorance, creates for itself another newer and more beautiful f

s himself to be identical with Brahma, do not de

ll, so his body then lies; but that which is bodiless and i

bout to renounce the world, retires to the solitude of the forest. There are several indications t

rtant treatise (identical with that found in the Chhāndogya) on the doctrine of transmigration. The views here expressed are so much at variance with those of Yājnavalkya that this text must have originated in another Vedic school, and

ter of the Vājasaneyi Sam?hitā, it belongs to a rather late period. It is about contemporaneous with the latest parts of the B?ihadāra?yaka, is more developed in many points than the Kā?haka, but seems to be older than the ?ve

ic text-books of actual Vedic schools, and received their names from those schools, being connected with and supplementary to the ritual Brāhma?as. The Upanishads of the Atharva-veda, on the other hand, are with few exceptions like the Mā??ūkya and the Jābāla, no longer connected with Vedic schools, but derive their names from their subject-matter or some other circumstance. They appear for the most part to represent the views of theosophic, mystic, ascetic,

tter in developing its main thesis. The next group, taking the fundamental doctrine for granted, treats of absorption in the ātman through ascetic meditation (yoga) based on the component parts of the sacred syllable om. These Upanishads are almost without exception composed in verse and are quite short, consisting on the average of about twenty stanzas. In the third category the life of the religious mendicant (sannyāsin), as a practical consequence of

eing the Upanishad of the tonsured (mu??a), an association of ascetics who shaved their heads, as the Buddhist monks did later. It is one of the most popular of the Upanishads, not owing to the originality of its contents, which are for the most part derived from older texts, but owing to the purity with which it reproduces the old Vedānta doctrine, and the beauty of the stanzas in which it is composed. It presupposes, above all, the Chhāndogya

sed by six students of Brahma to the sage Pippalāda, six main points of the Vedānta doctrine. These questions concern the origin of matter and life (prā?a) from Prajāpati; the superior

precision and conciseness are in marked contrast. It has many points of contact with the Maitrāya?a Upanishad, to which it seems to be posterior. It appears, however, to be older than the rest of the treatises which form the fourth class of the Upanishads of the Atharva-veda. Thus it distinguishes only three morae in the syllable om, and not yet three and a half. The fundamenta

shads. There is much probability in the assumption that its author is identical with Gau?apāda, the teacher of Govinda, whose pupil was the great Vedāntist commentator, ?ankara (800 A.D.). The point of view of the latter is the same essentially as that of the author of the Kārikā, and many of the thoughts and figures which begin to appear in the earlier work are in

which are all the same (i.e. light), are not different from the sun. The remainder of the poem is independent of the Upanishad and goes far beyond its doctrines. The second part has the special title of Vaitathya or the "Falseness" of the doctrine of reality.

ent (sato janma) is impossible, for that would be produced which already exists. The production of the non-existent (asato janma) is also impossible, for the non-existent is never produced, any more than the son of a barren woman. The last part is entitled Alāta-?ānti, or "Extinction of the firebrand (circle)," so called from an ingenious comparison made to explain how plural