The Upanishads (/uːˈpænɪˌʃædz, uːˈpɑːnɪˌʃɑːdz/;^[1]Sanskrit: उपनिषद्Upaniṣad[ʊpɐnɪʂɐd]), a part of the Vedas, are ancient Sanskrit texts that contain some of the central philosophical concepts and ideas of Hinduism, some of which are shared with religious traditions like Buddhism and Jainism.^{[2][3][note 1][note 2]} Among the most important literature in the history of Indian religions and culture, the Upanishads played an important role in the development of spiritual ideas in ancient India, marking a transition from Vedic ritualism to new ideas and institutions.^[6] Of all Vedic literature, the Upanishads alone are widely known, and their central ideas are at the spiritual core of Hindus.^[2][7]

The Upanishads are commonly referred to as Vedānta. Vedanta has been interpreted as the 'last chapters, parts of the Veda' and alternatively as 'object, the highest purpose of the Veda'.^[8] The concepts of Brahman (ultimate reality) and Ātman (soul, self) are central ideas in all of the Upanishads,^[9][10] and 'know that you are the Ātman' is their thematic focus.^[10][11] Along with the Bhagavad Gita and the Brahmasutra, the mukhya Upanishads (known collectively as the Prasthanatrayi)^[12] provide a foundation for the several later schools of Vedanta, among them, two influential monistic schools of Hinduism.^{[note 3][note 4][note 5]}

More than 200 Upanishads are known, of which the first dozen or so are the oldest and most important and are referred to as the principal or main (mukhya) Upanishads.^[15][16] The mukhya Upanishads are found mostly in the concluding part of the Brahmanas and Aranyakas^[17] and were, for centuries, memorized by each generation and passed down orally. The early Upanishads all predate the Common Era, five^{[note 6]} of them in all likelihood pre-Buddhist (6th century BCE),^[18] down to the Maurya period.^[19] Of the remainder, 95 Upanishads are part of the Muktika canon, composed from about the last centuries of 1st-millennium BCE through about 15th-century CE.^[20][21] New Upanishads, beyond the 108 in the Muktika canon, continued to be composed through the early modern and modern era,^[22] though often dealing with subjects which are unconnected to the Vedas.^[23]

With the translation of the Upanishads in the early 19th century they also started to attract attention from a western audience. Arthur Schopenhauer was deeply impressed by the Upanishads and called it 'the production of the highest human wisdom'.^[24] Modern era Indologists have discussed the similarities between the fundamental concepts in the Upanishads and major western philosophers.^[25][26][27]

• 2Development
• 3Classification
• 5Philosophy
• 6Schools of Vedanta

Etymology[edit]

The Sanskrit term Upaniṣad (from upa 'by' and ni-ṣad 'sit down')^[28] translates to 'sitting down near', referring to the student sitting down near the teacher while receiving spiritual knowledge.^[29] Other dictionary meanings include 'esoteric doctrine' and 'secret doctrine'. Monier-Williams' Sanskrit Dictionary notes – 'According to native authorities, Upanishad means setting to rest ignorance by revealing the knowledge of the supreme spirit.'^[30]

Adi Shankaracharya explains in his commentary on the Kaṭha and Brihadaranyaka Upanishad that the word means Ātmavidyā, that is, 'knowledge of the self', or Brahmavidyā 'knowledge of Brahma'. The word appears in the verses of many Upanishads, such as the fourth verse of the 13th volume in first chapter of the Chandogya Upanishad. Max Müller as well as Paul Deussen translate the word Upanishad in these verses as 'secret doctrine',^[31][32] Robert Hume translates it as 'mystic meaning',^[33] while Patrick Olivelle translates it as 'hidden connections'.^[34]

Development[edit]

Authorship[edit]

The authorship of most Upanishads is uncertain and unknown. Radhakrishnan states, 'almost all the early literature of India was anonymous, we do not know the names of the authors of the Upanishads'.^[35] The ancient Upanishads are embedded in the Vedas, the oldest of Hinduism's religious scriptures, which some traditionally consider to be apauruṣeya, which means 'not of a man, superhuman'^[36] and 'impersonal, authorless'.^[37][38][39] The Vedic texts assert that they were skillfully created by Rishis (sages), after inspired creativity, just as a carpenter builds a chariot.^[40] One of the Upanishads, the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, was said to have been organized by King Shiradhaj Janaka in the Ramayana. It was a gathering of rishis from all across Aryavarta to share their knowledge of the Vedas to expand the knowledge of humanity.^[41]

The various philosophical theories in the early Upanishads have been attributed to famous sages such as Yajnavalkya, Uddalaka Aruni, Shvetaketu, Shandilya, Aitareya, Balaki, Pippalada, and Sanatkumara.^[35][42] Women, such as Maitreyi and Gargi participate in the dialogues and are also credited in the early Upanishads.^[43] There are some exceptions to the anonymous tradition of the Upanishads. The Shvetashvatara Upanishad, for example, includes closing credits to sage Shvetashvatara, and he is considered the author of the Upanishad.^[44]

Many scholars believe that early Upanishads were interpolated^[45] and expanded over time. There are differences within manuscripts of the same Upanishad discovered in different parts of South Asia, differences in non-Sanskrit version of the texts that have survived, and differences within each text in terms of meter,^[46] style, grammar and structure.^[47][48] The existing texts are believed to be the work of many authors.^[49].

Chronology[edit]

Scholars are uncertain about when the Upanishads were composed.^[50] The chronology of the early Upanishads is difficult to resolve, states philosopher and Sanskritist Stephen Phillips,^[15] because all opinions rest on scanty evidence and analysis of archaism, style and repetitions across texts, and are driven by assumptions about likely evolution of ideas, and presumptions about which philosophy might have influenced which other Indian philosophies. Indologist Patrick Olivelle says that 'in spite of claims made by some, in reality, any dating of these documents [early Upanishads] that attempts a precision closer than a few centuries is as stable as a house of cards'.^[18] Some scholars have tried to analyse similarities between Hindu Upanishads and Buddhist literature to establish chronology for the Upanishads.^[19]

Patrick Olivelle gives the following chronology for the early Upanishads, also called the Principal Upanishads:^[50][18]

• The Brhadaranyaka and the Chandogya are the two earliest Upanishads. They are edited texts, some of whose sources are much older than others. The two texts are pre-Buddhist; they may be placed in the 7th to 6th centuries BCE, give or take a century or so.^[51][19]
• The three other early prose Upanisads—Taittiriya, Aitareya, and Kausitaki come next; all are probably pre-Buddhist and can be assigned to the 6th to 5th centuries BCE.
• The Kena is the oldest of the verse Upanisads followed by probably the Katha, Isa, Svetasvatara, and Mundaka. All these Upanisads were composed probably in the last few centuries BCE.^[52]
• The two late prose Upanisads, the Prasna and the Mandukya, cannot be much older than the beginning of the common era.^[50][18]

Stephen Phillips places the early Upanishads in the 800 to 300 BCE range. He summarizes the current Indological opinion to be that the Brhadaranyaka, Chandogya, Isha, Taittiriya, Aitareya, Kena, Katha, Mundaka, and Prasna Upanishads are all pre-Buddhist and pre-Jain, while Svetasvatara and Mandukya overlap with the earliest Buddhist and Jain literature.^[15]

The later Upanishads, numbering about 95, also called minor Upanishads, are dated from the late 1st-millennium BCE to mid 2nd-millennium CE.^[20]Gavin Flood dates many of the twenty Yoga Upanishads to be probably from the 100 BCE to 300 CE period.^[21]Patrick Olivelle and other scholars date seven of the twenty Sannyasa Upanishads to likely have been complete sometime between the last centuries of the 1st-millennium BCE to 300 CE.^[20] About half of the Sannyasa Upanishads were likely composed in 14th- to 15th-century CE.^[20]

Geography[edit]

The general area of the composition of the early Upanishads is considered as northern India. The region is bounded on the west by the upper Indus valley, on the east by lower Ganges region, on the north by the Himalayan foothills, and on the south by the Vindhya mountain range.^[18] Scholars are reasonably sure that the early Upanishads were produced at the geographical center of ancient Brahmanism, comprising the regions of Kuru-Panchala and Kosala-Videha together with the areas immediately to the south and west of these.^[53] This region covers modern Bihar, Nepal, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, eastern Rajasthan, and northern Madhya Pradesh.^[18]

While significant attempts have been made recently to identify the exact locations of the individual Upanishads, the results are tentative. Witzel identifies the center of activity in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad as the area of Videha, whose king, Janaka, features prominently in the Upanishad.^[54] The Chandogya Upanishad was probably composed in a more western than eastern location in the Indian subcontinent, possibly somewhere in the western region of the Kuru-Panchala country.^[55]

Compared to the Principal Upanishads, the new Upanishads recorded in the Muktikā belong to an entirely different region, probably southern India, and are considerably relatively recent.^[56] In the fourth chapter of the Kaushitaki Upanishad, a location named Kashi (modern Varanasi) is mentioned.^[18]

Classification[edit]

Muktika canon: major and minor Upanishads[edit]

There are more than 200 known Upanishads, one of which, the Muktikā Upanishad, predates 1656 CE^[57] and contains a list of 108 canonical Upanishads,^[58] including itself as the last. These are further divided into Upanishads associated with Shaktism (goddess Shakti), Sannyasa (renunciation, monastic life), Shaivism (god Shiva), Vaishnavism (god Vishnu), Yoga, and Sāmānya (general, sometimes referred to as Samanya-Vedanta).^[59][60]

Some of the Upanishads are categorized as 'sectarian' since they present their ideas through a particular god or goddess of a specific Hindu tradition such as Vishnu, Shiva, Shakti, or a combination of these such as the Skanda Upanishad. These traditions sought to link their texts as Vedic, by asserting their texts to be an Upanishad, thereby a Śruti.^[61] Most of these sectarian Upanishads, for example the Rudrahridaya Upanishad and the Mahanarayana Upanishad, assert that all the Hindu gods and goddesses are the same, all an aspect and manifestation of Brahman, the Vedic concept for metaphysical ultimate reality before and after the creation of the Universe.^[62][63]

Mukhya Upanishads[edit]

The Mukhya Upanishads can be grouped into periods. Of the early periods are the Brihadaranyaka and the Chandogya, the oldest.^{[64][note 7]}

The Aitareya, Kauṣītaki and Taittirīya Upanishads may date to as early as the mid 1st millennium BCE, while the remnant date from between roughly the 4th to 1st centuries BCE, roughly contemporary with the earliest portions of the Sanskrit epics.One chronology assumes that the Aitareya, Taittiriya, Kausitaki, Mundaka, Prasna, and Katha Upanishads has Buddha's influence, and is consequently placed after the 5th century BCE, while another proposal questions this assumption and dates it independent of Buddha's date of birth. After these Principal Upanishads are typically placed the Kena, Mandukya and Isa Upanishads, but other scholars date these differently.^[19] Not much is known about the authors except for those, like Yajnavalkayva and Uddalaka, mentioned in the texts.^[17] A few women discussants, such as Gargi and Maitreyi, the wife of Yajnavalkayva,^[66] also feature occasionally.

Each of the principal Upanishads can be associated with one of the schools of exegesis of the four Vedas (shakhas).^[67] Many Shakhas are said to have existed, of which only a few remain. The new Upanishads often have little relation to the Vedic corpus and have not been cited or commented upon by any great Vedanta philosopher: their language differs from that of the classic Upanishads, being less subtle and more formalized. As a result, they are not difficult to comprehend for the modern reader.^[68]

The Kauśītāki and Maitrāyaṇi Upanishads are sometimes added to the list of the mukhya Upanishads.

New Upanishads[edit]

There is no fixed list of the Upanishads as newer ones, beyond the Muktika anthology of 108 Upanishads, have continued to be discovered and composed.^[70] In 1908, for example, four previously unknown Upanishads were discovered in newly found manuscripts, and these were named Bashkala, Chhagaleya, Arsheya, and Saunaka, by Friedrich Schrader,^[71] who attributed them to the first prose period of the Upanishads.^[72] The text of three of them, namely the Chhagaleya, Arsheya, and Saunaka, were incomplete and inconsistent, likely poorly maintained or corrupted.^[72]

Ancient Upanishads have long enjoyed a revered position in Hindu traditions, and authors of numerous sectarian texts have tried to benefit from this reputation by naming their texts as Upanishads.^[73] These 'new Upanishads' number in the hundreds, cover diverse range of topics from physiology^[74] to renunciation^[75] to sectarian theories.^[73] They were composed between the last centuries of the 1st millennium BCE through the early modern era (~1600 CE).^[73][75] While over two dozen of the minor Upanishads are dated to pre-3rd century CE,^[20][21] many of these new texts under the title of 'Upanishads' originated in the first half of the 2nd millennium CE,^[73] they are not Vedic texts, and some do not deal with themes found in the Vedic Upanishads.^[23]

The main Shakta Upanishads, for example, mostly discuss doctrinal and interpretative differences between the two principal sects of a major Tantric form of Shaktism called Shri Vidyaupasana. The many extant lists of authentic Shakta Upaniṣads vary, reflecting the sect of their compilers, so that they yield no evidence of their 'location' in Tantric tradition, impeding correct interpretation. The Tantra content of these texts also weaken its identity as an Upaniṣad for non-Tantrikas. Sectarian texts such as these do not enjoy status as shruti and thus the authority of the new Upanishads as scripture is not accepted in Hinduism.^[76]

Association with Vedas[edit]

All Upanishads are associated with one of the four Vedas—Rigveda, Samaveda, Yajurveda (there are two primary versions or Samhitas of the Yajurveda: Shukla Yajurveda, Krishna Yajurveda), and Atharvaveda.^[77] During the modern era, the ancient Upanishads that were embedded texts in the Vedas, were detached from the Brahmana and Aranyaka layers of Vedic text, compiled into separate texts and these were then gathered into anthologies of Upanishads.^[73] These lists associated each Upanishad with one of the four Vedas, many such lists exist, and these lists are inconsistent across India in terms of which Upanishads are included and how the newer Upanishads are assigned to the ancient Vedas. In south India, the collected list based on Muktika Upanishad,^{[note 8]} and published in Telugu language, became the most common by the 19th-century and this is a list of 108 Upanishads.^[73][78] In north India, a list of 52 Upanishads has been most common.^[73]

The Muktikā Upanishad's list of 108 Upanishads groups the first 13 as mukhya,^{[79][note 9]} 21 as Sāmānya Vedānta, 20 as Sannyāsa,^[83] 14 as Vaishnava, 12 as Shaiva, 8 as Shakta, and 20 as Yoga.^[84] The 108 Upanishads as recorded in the Muktikā are shown in the table below.^[77] The mukhya Upanishads are the most important and highlighted.^[81]

Philosophy[edit]

The Upanishadic age was characterized by a pluralism of worldviews. While some Upanishads have been deemed 'monistic', others, including the Katha Upanishad, are dualistic.^[91] The Maitri is one of the Upanishads that inclines more toward dualism, thus grounding classical Samkhya and Yoga schools of Hinduism, in contrast to the non-dualistic Upanishads at the foundation of its Vedanta school.^[92] They contain a plurality of ideas.^{[93][note 11]}

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan states that the Upanishads have dominated Indian philosophy, religion and life ever since their appearance.^[94] The Upanishads are respected not because they are considered revealed (Shruti), but because they present spiritual ideas that are inspiring.^[95] The Upanishads are treatises on Brahman-knowledge, that is knowledge of Ultimate Hidden Reality, and their presentation of philosophy presumes, 'it is by a strictly personal effort that one can reach the truth'.^[96] In the Upanishads, states Radhakrishnan, knowledge is a means to freedom, and philosophy is the pursuit of wisdom by a way of life.^[97]

The Upanishads include sections on philosophical theories that have been at the foundation of Indian traditions. For example, the Chandogya Upanishad includes one of the earliest known declaration of Ahimsa (non-violence) as an ethical precept.^[98][99] Discussion of other ethical premises such as Damah (temperance, self-restraint), Satya (truthfulness), Dāna (charity), Ārjava (non-hypocrisy), Daya (compassion) and others are found in the oldest Upanishads and many later Upanishads.^[100][101] Similarly, the Karma doctrine is presented in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, which is the oldest Upanishad.^[102]

Development of thought[edit]

While the hymns of the Vedas emphasize rituals and the Brahmanas serve as a liturgical manual for those Vedic rituals, the spirit of the Upanishads is inherently opposed to ritual.^[103] The older Upanishads launch attacks of increasing intensity on the ritual. Anyone who worships a divinity other than the self is called a domestic animal of the gods in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. The Chāndogya Upanishad parodies those who indulge in the acts of sacrifice by comparing them with a procession of dogs chanting Om! Let's eat. Om! Let's drink.^[103]

The Kaushitaki Upanishad asserts that 'external rituals such as Agnihotram offered in the morning and in the evening, must be replaced with inner Agnihotram, the ritual of introspection', and that 'not rituals, but knowledge should be one's pursuit'.^[104] The Mundaka Upanishad declares how man has been called upon, promised benefits for, scared unto and misled into performing sacrifices, oblations and pious works.^[105] Mundaka thereafter asserts this is foolish and frail, by those who encourage it and those who follow it, because it makes no difference to man's current life and after-life, it is like blind men leading the blind, it is a mark of conceit and vain knowledge, ignorant inertia like that of children, a futile useless practice.^[105][106] The Maitri Upanishad states,^[107]

The performance of all the sacrifices, described in the Maitrayana-Brahmana, is to lead up in the end to a knowledge of Brahman, to prepare a man for meditation. Therefore, let such man, after he has laid those fires,^[108] meditate on the Self, to become complete and perfect.

The opposition to the ritual is not explicit in the oldest Upanishads. On occasions, the Upanishads extend the task of the Aranyakas by making the ritual allegorical and giving it a philosophical meaning. For example, the Brihadaranyaka interprets the practice of horse-sacrifice or ashvamedha allegorically. It states that the over-lordship of the earth may be acquired by sacrificing a horse. It then goes on to say that spiritual autonomy can only be achieved by renouncing the universe which is conceived in the image of a horse.^[103]

In similar fashion, Vedic gods such as the Agni, Aditya, Indra, Rudra, Visnu, Brahma, and others become equated in the Upanishads to the supreme, immortal, and incorporeal Brahman-Atman of the Upanishads, god becomes synonymous with self, and is declared to be everywhere, inmost being of each human being and within every living creature.^{[111][112][113]} The one reality or ekam sat of the Vedas becomes the ekam eva advitiyam or 'the one and only and sans a second' in the Upanishads.^[103] Brahman-Atman and self-realization develops, in the Upanishad, as the means to moksha (liberation; freedom in this life or after-life).^{[113][114][115]}

According to Jayatilleke, the thinkers of Upanishadic texts can be grouped into two categories.^[116] One group, which includes early Upanishads along with some middle and late Upanishads, were composed by metaphysicians who used rational arguments and empirical experience to formulate their speculations and philosophical premises. The second group includes many middle and later Upanishads, where their authors professed theories based on yoga and personal experiences.^[116] Yoga philosophy and practice, adds Jayatilleke, is 'not entirely absent in the Early Upanishads'.^[116] The development of thought in these Upanishadic theories contrasted with Buddhism, since the Upanishadic inquiry assumed there is a soul (Atman), while Buddhism assumed there is no soul (Anatta), states Jayatilleke.^[117]

Brahman and Atman[edit]

Two concepts that are of paramount importance in the Upanishads are Brahman and Atman.^[9] The Brahman is the ultimate reality and the Atman is individual self (soul).^[118][119] Brahman is the material, efficient, formal and final cause of all that exists.^{[120][121][122]} It is the pervasive, genderless, infinite, eternal truth and bliss which does not change, yet is the cause of all changes.^[118][123] Brahman is 'the infinite source, fabric, core and destiny of all existence, both manifested and unmanifested, the formless infinite substratum and from which the universe has grown'. Brahman in Hinduism, states Paul Deussen, as the 'creative principle which lies realized in the whole world'.^[124]

The word Atman means the inner self, the soul, the immortal spirit in an individual, and all living beings including animals and trees.^[125][119] Ātman is a central idea in all the Upanishads, and 'Know your Ātman' their thematic focus.^[10] These texts state that the inmost core of every person is not the body, nor the mind, nor the ego, but Atman – 'soul' or 'self'.^[126] Atman is the spiritual essence in all creatures, their real innermost essential being.^[127][128] It is eternal, it is ageless. Atman is that which one is at the deepest level of one's existence.

Atman is the predominantly discussed topic in the Upanishads, but they express two distinct, somewhat divergent themes. Younger upanishads state that Brahman (Highest Reality, Universal Principle, Being-Consciousness-Bliss) is identical with Atman, while older upanishads state Atman is part of Brahman but not identical.^[129][130] The Brahmasutra by Badarayana (~ 100 BCE) synthesized and unified these somewhat conflicting theories. According to Nakamura, the Brahman sutras see Atman and Brahman as both different and not-different, a point of view which came to be called bhedabheda in later times.^[131] According to Koller, the Brahman sutras state that Atman and Brahman are different in some respects particularly during the state of ignorance, but at the deepest level and in the state of self-realization, Atman and Brahman are identical, non-different.^[129] This ancient debate flowered into various dual, non-dual theories in Hinduism.

Reality and Maya[edit]

Two different types of the non-dual Brahman-Atman are presented in the Upanishads, according to Mahadevan. The one in which the non-dual Brahman-Atman is the all inclusive ground of the universe and another in which empirical, changing reality is an appearance (Maya).^[132]

The Upanishads describe the universe, and the human experience, as an interplay of Purusha (the eternal, unchanging principles, consciousness) and Prakṛti (the temporary, changing material world, nature).^[133] The former manifests itself as Ātman (soul, self), and the latter as Māyā. The Upanishads refer to the knowledge of Atman as 'true knowledge' (Vidya), and the knowledge of Maya as 'not true knowledge' (Avidya, Nescience, lack of awareness, lack of true knowledge).^[134]

Hendrick Vroom explains, 'the term Maya [in the Upanishads] has been translated as 'illusion,' but then it does not concern normal illusion. Here 'illusion' does not mean that the world is not real and simply a figment of the human imagination. Maya means that the world is not as it seems; the world that one experiences is misleading as far as its true nature is concerned.'^[135] According to Wendy Doniger, 'to say that the universe is an illusion (māyā) is not to say that it is unreal; it is to say, instead, that it is not what it seems to be, that it is something constantly being made. Māyā not only deceives people about the things they think they know; more basically, it limits their knowledge.'^[136]

In the Upanishads, Māyā is the perceived changing reality and it co-exists with Brahman which is the hidden true reality.^[137][138]Maya, or 'illusion', is an important idea in the Upanishads, because the texts assert that in the human pursuit of blissful and liberating self-knowledge, it is Maya which obscures, confuses and distracts an individual.^[139][140]

Schools of Vedanta[edit]

The Upanishads form one of the three main sources for all schools of Vedanta, together with the Bhagavad Gita and the Brahmasutras.^[141] Due to the wide variety of philosophical teachings contained in the Upanishads, various interpretations could be grounded on the Upanishads. The schools of Vedānta seek to answer questions about the relation between atman and Brahman, and the relation between Brahman and the world.^[142] The schools of Vedanta are named after the relation they see between atman and Brahman:^[143]

• According to Advaita Vedanta, there is no difference.^[143]
• According to Vishishtadvaita the jīvātman is a part of Brahman, and hence is similar, but not identical.
• According to Dvaita, all individual souls (jīvātmans) and matter as eternal and mutually separate entities.

Other schools of Vedanta include Nimbarka's Dvaitadvaita, Vallabha's Suddhadvaita and Chaitanya's Acintya Bhedabheda.^[144] The philosopher Adi Sankara has provided commentaries on 11 mukhya Upanishads.^[145]

Advaita Vedanta[edit]

Advaita literally means non-duality, and it is a monistic system of thought.^[146] It deals with the non-dual nature of Brahman and Atman. Advaita is considered the most influential sub-school of the Vedanta school of Hindu philosophy.^[146] Gaudapada was the first person to expound the basic principles of the Advaita philosophy in a commentary on the conflicting statements of the Upanishads.^[147] Gaudapada's Advaita ideas were further developed by Shankara (8th century CE).^[148][149] King states that Gaudapada's main work, Māṇḍukya Kārikā, is infused with philosophical terminology of Buddhism, and uses Buddhist arguments and analogies.^[150] King also suggests that there are clear differences between Shankara's writings and the Brahmasutra,^[148][149] and many ideas of Shankara are at odds with those in the Upanishads.^[151] Radhakrishnan, on the other hand, suggests that Shankara's views of Advaita were straightforward developments of the Upanishads and the Brahmasutra,^[152] and many ideas of Shankara derive from the Upanishads.^[153]

Shankara in his discussions of the Advaita Vedanta philosophy referred to the early Upanishads to explain the key difference between Hinduism and Buddhism, stating that Hinduism asserts that Atman (soul, self) exists, whereas Buddhism asserts that there is no soul, no self.^{[154][155][156]}

The Upanishads contain four sentences, the Mahāvākyas (Great Sayings), which were used by Shankara to establish the identity of Atman and Brahman as scriptural truth:

• 'Prajñānam brahma' - 'Consciousness is Brahman' (Aitareya Upanishad)^[157]
• 'Aham brahmāsmi' - 'I am Brahman' (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad)^[158]
• 'Tat tvam asi' - 'That Thou art' (Chandogya Upanishad)^[159]
• 'Ayamātmā brahma' - 'This Atman is Brahman' (Mandukya Upanishad)^[160]

Although there are a wide variety of philosophical positions propounded in the Upanishads, commentators since Adi Shankara have usually followed him in seeing idealistmonism as the dominant force.^{[161][note 12]}

Vishishtadvaita[edit]

The second school of Vedanta is the Vishishtadvaita, which was founded by Sri Ramanuja (1017–1137 CE). Sri Ramanuja disagreed with Adi Shankara and the Advaita school.^[162] Visistadvaita is a synthetic philosophy bridging the monistic Advaita and theistic Dvaita systems of Vedanta.^[163] Sri Ramanuja frequently cited the Upanishads, and stated that Vishishtadvaita is grounded in the Upanishads.^[164][165]

Sri Ramanuja's Vishishtadvaita interpretation of the Upanishad is a qualified monism.^[166][167] Sri Ramanuja interprets the Upanishadic literature to be teaching a body-soul theory, states Jeaneane Fowler – a professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies, where the Brahman is the dweller in all things, yet also distinct and beyond all things, as the soul, the inner controller, the immortal.^[165] The Upanishads, according to the Vishishtadvaita school, teach individual souls to be of the same quality as the Brahman, but quantitatively they are distinct.^{[168][169][170]}

In the Vishishtadvaita school, the Upanishads are interpreted to be teaching an Ishwar (Vishnu), which is the seat of all auspicious qualities, with all of the empirically perceived world as the body of God who dwells in everything.^[165] The school recommends a devotion to godliness and constant remembrance of the beauty and love of personal god. This ultimately leads one to the oneness with abstract Brahman.^{[171][172][173]} The Brahman in the Upanishads is a living reality, states Fowler, and 'the Atman of all things and all beings' in Sri Ramanuja's interpretation.^[165]

Dvaita[edit]

The third school of Vedanta called the Dvaita school was founded by Madhvacharya (1199–1278 CE).^[174] It is regarded as a strongly theistic philosophic exposition of Upanishads.^[163] Madhvacharya, much like Adi Shankara claims for Advaita, and Sri Ramanuja claims for Vishishtadvaita, states that his theistic Dvaita Vedanta is grounded in the Upanishads.^[164]

According to the Dvaita school, states Fowler, the 'Upanishads that speak of the soul as Brahman, speak of resemblance and not identity'.^[175] Madhvacharya interprets the Upanishadic teachings of the self becoming one with Brahman, as 'entering into Brahman', just like a drop enters an ocean. This to the Dvaita school implies duality and dependence, where Brahman and Atman are different realities. Brahman is a separate, independent and supreme reality in the Upanishads, Atman only resembles the Brahman in limited, inferior, dependent manner according to Madhvacharya.^{[175][176][177]}

Sri Ramanuja's Vishishtadvaita school and Shankara's Advaita school are both nondualism Vedanta schools,^[171] both are premised on the assumption that all souls can hope for and achieve the state of blissful liberation; in contrast, Madhvacharya believed that some souls are eternally doomed and damned.^[178][179]

Similarities with Platonic thought[edit]

Several scholars have recognised parallels between the philosophy of Pythagoras and Plato and that of the Upanishads, including their ideas on sources of knowledge, concept of justice and path to salvation, and Plato's allegory of the cave. Platonic psychology with its divisions of reason, spirit and appetite, also bears resemblance to the three gunas in the Indian philosophy of Samkhya.^{[180][181][note 13]}

Various mechanisms for such a transmission of knowledge have been conjectured including Pythagoras traveling as far as India; Indian philosophers visiting Athens and meeting Socrates; Plato encountering the ideas when in exile in Syracuse; or, intermediated through Persia.^[180][183]

However, other scholars, such as Arthur Berriedale Keith, J. Burnet and A. R. Wadia, believe that the two systems developed independently. They note that there is no historical evidence of the philosophers of the two schools meeting, and point out significant differences in the stage of development, orientation and goals of the two philosophical systems. Wadia writes that Plato's metaphysics were rooted in this life and his primary aim was to develop an ideal state.^[181] In contrast, Upanishadic focus was the individual, the self (atman, soul), self-knowledge, and the means of an individual's moksha (freedom, liberation in this life or after-life).^{[184][11][185]}

Translations[edit]

The Upanishads have been translated into various languages including Persian, Italian, Urdu, French, Latin, German, English, Dutch, Polish, Japanese, Spanish and Russian.^[186] The Moghul Emperor Akbar's reign (1556–1586) saw the first translations of the Upanishads into Persian.^[187][188] His great-grandson, Sultan Mohammed Dara Shikoh, produced a collection called Oupanekhat in 1656, wherein 50 Upanishads were translated from Sanskrit into Persian.^[189]

Anquetil Duperron, a French Orientalist received a manuscript of the Oupanekhat and translated the Persian version into French and Latin, publishing the Latin translation in two volumes in 1801–1802 as Oupneck'hat.^[189][187] The French translation was never published.^[190] The Latin version was the initial introduction of Upanishadic thought to Western scholars.^[191] However, according to Deussen, the Persian translators took great liberties in translating the text and at times changed the meaning.^[192]

The first Sanskrit to English translation of the Aitareya Upanishad was made by Colebrooke,^[193] in 1805 and the first English translation of the Kena Upanishad was made by Rammohun Roy in 1816.^[194][195]

The first German translation appeared in 1832 and Roer's English version appeared in 1853. However, Max Mueller's 1879 and 1884 editions were the first systematic English treatment to include the 12 Principal Upanishads.^[186] Other major translations of the Upanishads have been by Robert Ernest Hume (13 Principal Upanishads),^[196]Paul Deussen (60 Upanishads),^[197]Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (18 Upanishads),^[198] and Patrick Olivelle (32 Upanishads in two books).^[199][161] Olivelle's translation won the 1998 A.K. Ramanujan Book Prize for Translation.^[200]

Reception in the West[edit]

The German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer read the Latin translation and praised the Upanishads in his main work, The World as Will and Representation (1819), as well as in his Parerga and Paralipomena (1851).^[201] He found his own philosophy was in accord with the Upanishads, which taught that the individual is a manifestation of the one basis of reality. For Schopenhauer, that fundamentally real underlying unity is what we know in ourselves as 'will'. Schopenhauer used to keep a copy of the Latin Oupnekhet by his side and commented,

It has been the solace of my life, it will be the solace of my death.^[202]

Another German philosopher, Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling, praised the ideas in the Upanishads,^[203] as did others.^[204] In the United States, the group known as the Transcendentalists were influenced by the German idealists. Americans, such as Emerson and Thoreau embraced Schelling's interpretation of Kant's Transcendental idealism, as well as his celebration of the romantic, exotic, mystical aspect of the Upanishads. As a result of the influence of these writers, the Upanishads gained renown in Western countries.^[205]

The poet T. S. Eliot, inspired by his reading of the Upanishads, based the final portion of his famous poem The Waste Land (1922) upon one of its verses.^[206] According to Eknath Easwaran, the Upanishads are snapshots of towering peaks of consciousness.^[207]

Juan Mascaró, a professor at the University of Barcelona and a translator of the Upanishads, states that the Upanishads represents for the Hindu approximately what the New Testament represents for the Christian, and that the message of the Upanishads can be summarized in the words, 'the kingdom of God is within you'.^[208]

Paul Deussen in his review of the Upanishads, states that the texts emphasize Brahman-Atman as something that can be experienced, but not defined.^[209] This view of the soul and self are similar, states Deussen, to those found in the dialogues of Plato and elsewhere. The Upanishads insisted on oneness of soul, excluded all plurality, and therefore, all proximity in space, all succession in time, all interdependence as cause and effect, and all opposition as subject and object.^[209] Max Müller, in his review of the Upanishads, summarizes the lack of systematic philosophy and the central theme in the Upanishads as follows,

There is not what could be called a philosophical system in these Upanishads. They are, in the true sense of the word, guesses at truth, frequently contradicting each other, yet all tending in one direction. The key-note of the old Upanishads is 'know thyself,' but with a much deeper meaning than that of the γνῶθι σεαυτόν of the Delphic Oracle. The 'know thyself' of the Upanishads means, know thy true self, that which underlines thine Ego, and find it and know it in the highest, the eternal Self, the One without a second, which underlies the whole world.

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

1. ^The shared concepts include rebirth, samsara, karma, meditation, renunciation and moksha.^[4]
2. ^The Upanishadic, Buddhist and Jain renunciation traditions form parallel traditions, which share some common concepts and interests. While Kuru-Panchala, at the central Ganges Plain, formed the center of the early Upanishadic tradition, Kosala-Magadha at the central Ganges Plain formed the center of the other shramanic traditions.^[5]
3. ^Advaita Vedanta, summarized by Shankara (788–820), advances a non-dualistic (a-dvaita) interpretation of the Upanishads.'^[13]
4. ^'These Upanishadic ideas are developed into Advaita monism. Brahman's unity comes to be taken to mean that appearances of individualities.^[14]
5. ^'The doctrine of advaita (non dualism) has its origin in the Upanishads.'
6. ^The pre-Buddhist Upanishads are: Brihadaranyaka, Chandogya, Kaushitaki, Aitareya, and Taittiriya Upanishads.^[18]
7. ^These are believed to pre-date Gautam Buddha (c. 500 BCE)^[65]
8. ^The Muktika manuscript found in colonial era Calcutta is the usual default, but other recensions exist.
9. ^ ^abSome scholars list ten as principal, while most consider twelve or thirteen as principal mukhya Upanishads.^[80][81][82]
10. ^Parmeshwaranand classifies Maitrayani with Samaveda, most scholars with Krishna Yajurveda^[77][88]
11. ^Oliville: 'In this Introduction I have avoided speaking of 'the philosophy of the upanishads', a common feature of most introductions to their translations. These documents were composed over several centuries and in various regions, and it is futile to try to discover a single doctrine or philosophy in them.'^[93]
12. ^According to Collins, the breakdown of the Vedic cults is more obscured by retrospective ideology than any other period in Indian history. It is commonly assumed that the dominant philosophy now became an idealist monism, the identification of atman (self) and Brahman (Spirit), and that this mysticism was believed to provide a way to transcend rebirths on the wheel of karma. This is far from an accurate picture of what we read in the Upanishads. It has become traditional to view the Upanishads through the lens of Shankara's Advaita interpretation. This imposes the philosophical revolution of about 700 C.E. upon a very different situation 1,000 to 1,500 years earlier. Shankara picked out monist and idealist themes from a much wider philosophical lineup.^[151]
13. ^For instances of Platonic pluralism in the early Upanishads see Randall.^[182]

References[edit]

1. ^'Upanishad'. Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary.
2. ^ ^abWendy Doniger (1990), Textual Sources for the Study of Hinduism, 1st Edition, University of Chicago Press, ISBN978-0226618470, pages 2-3; Quote: 'The Upanishads supply the basis of later Hindu philosophy; they are widely known and quoted by most well-educated Hindus, and their central ideas have also become a part of the spiritual arsenal of rank-and-file Hindus.'
3. ^Wiman Dissanayake (1993), Self as Body in Asian Theory and Practice (Editors: Thomas P. Kasulis et al), State University of New York Press, ISBN978-0791410806, page 39; Quote: 'The Upanishads form the foundations of Hindu philosophical thought and the central theme of the Upanishads is the identity of Atman and Brahman, or the inner self and the cosmic self.';
   Michael McDowell and Nathan Brown (2009), World Religions, Penguin, ISBN978-1592578467, pages 208-210
4. ^Olivelle 1998, pp. xx-xxiv.
5. ^Samuel 2010.
6. ^Patrick Olivelle 1998, pp. 3-4.
7. ^Patrick Olivelle (2014), The Early Upanisads, Oxford University Press, ISBN978-0195352429, page 3; Quote: 'Even though theoretically the whole of vedic corpus is accepted as revealed truth [shruti], in reality it is the Upanishads that have continued to influence the life and thought of the various religious traditions that we have come to call Hindu. Upanishads are the scriptures par excellence of Hinduism'.
8. ^Max Müller, The Upanishads, Part 1, Oxford University Press, page LXXXVI footnote 1
9. ^ ^abMahadevan 1956, p. 59.
10. ^ ^abcPT Raju (1985), Structural Depths of Indian Thought, State University of New York Press, ISBN978-0887061394, pages 35-36
11. ^ ^abcWD Strappini, The Upanishads, p. 258, at Google Books, The Month and Catholic Review, Vol. 23, Issue 42
12. ^Ranade 1926, p. 205.
13. ^Cornille 1992, p. 12.
14. ^Phillips 1995, p. 10.
15. ^ ^abcStephen Phillips (2009), Yoga, Karma, and Rebirth: A Brief History and Philosophy, Columbia University Press, ISBN978-0231144858, pages 25-29 and Chapter 1
16. ^E Easwaran (2007), The Upanishads, ISBN978-1586380212, pages 298-299
17. ^ ^abMahadevan 1956, p. 56.
18. ^ ^abcdefghPatrick Olivelle (2014), The Early Upanishads, Oxford University Press, ISBN978-0195124354, pages 12-14
19. ^ ^abcdKing 1995, p. 52.
20. ^ ^abcdeOlivelle 1992, pp. 5, 8–9.
21. ^ ^abcFlood 1996, p. 96.
22. ^Ranade 1926, p. 12.
23. ^ ^abVarghese 2008, p. 101.
24. ^Clarke, John James (1997). Oriental enlightenment. Routledge. p. 68. ISBN978-0-415-13376-0.
25. ^Deussen 2010, p. 42, Quote: 'Here we have to do with the Upanishads, and the world-wide historical significance of these documents cannot, in our judgement, be more clearly indicated than by showing how the deep fundamental conception of Plato and Kant was precisely that which already formed the basis of Upanishad teaching'..
26. ^Lawrence Hatab (1982). R. Baine Harris (ed.). Neoplatonism and Indian Thought. State University of New York Press. pp. 31–38. ISBN978-0-87395-546-1.;
    Paulos Gregorios (2002). Neoplatonism and Indian Philosophy. State University of New York Press. pp. 71–79, 190–192, 210–214. ISBN978-0-7914-5274-5.
27. ^Ben-Ami Scharfstein (1998). A Comparative History of World Philosophy: From the Upanishads to Kant. State University of New York Press. pp. 62–74. ISBN978-0-7914-3683-7.
28. ^'Upanishad'. Online Etymology Dictionary.
29. ^Jones, Constance (2007). Encyclopedia of Hinduism. New York: Infobase Publishing. p. 472. ISBN0816073368.
30. ^Monier-Williams, p. 201.
31. ^Max Müller, Chandogya Upanishad 1.13.4, The Upanishads, Part I, Oxford University Press, page 22
32. ^Paul Deussen, Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Volume 1, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN978-8120814684, page 85
33. ^Robert Hume, Chandogya Upanishad 1.13.4, Oxford University Press, page 190
34. ^Patrick Olivelle (2014), The Early Upanishads, Oxford University Press, ISBN978-0195124354, page 185
35. ^ ^abS Radhakrishnan, The Principal Upanishads George Allen & Co., 1951, pages 22, Reprinted as ISBN978-8172231248
36. ^Vaman Shivaram Apte, The Practical Sanskrit-English Dictionary, see apauruSeya
37. ^D Sharma, Classical Indian Philosophy: A Reader, Columbia University Press, ISBN , pages 196-197
38. ^Jan Westerhoff (2009), Nagarjuna's Madhyamaka: A Philosophical Introduction, Oxford University Press, ISBN978-0195384963, page 290
39. ^Warren Lee Todd (2013), The Ethics of Śaṅkara and Śāntideva: A Selfless Response to an Illusory World, ISBN978-1409466819, page 128
40. ^Hartmut Scharfe (2002), Handbook of Oriental Studies, BRILL Academic, ISBN978-9004125568, pages 13-14
41. ^Pattanaik, Devdutt (2013). Sita: An Illustrated Retelling of the Ramayana. India: Penguin Books. pp. 19–22. ISBN9780143064329.
42. ^Mahadevan 1956, pp. 59-60.
43. ^Ellison Findly (1999), Women and the Arahant Issue in Early Pali Literature, Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, Vol. 15, No. 1, pages 57-76
44. ^Paul Deussen, Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Volume 1, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN978-8120814684, pages 301-304
45. ^For example, see: Kaushitaki Upanishad Robert Hume (Translator), Oxford University Press, page 306 footnote 2
46. ^Max Müller, The Upanishads, p. PR72, at Google Books, Oxford University Press, page LXXII
47. ^Patrick Olivelle (1998), Unfaithful Transmitters, Journal of Indian Philosophy, April 1998, Volume 26, Issue 2, pages 173-187;
    Patrick Olivelle (2014), The Early Upanishads, Oxford University Press, ISBN978-0195124354, pages 583-640
48. ^WD Whitney, The Upanishads and Their Latest Translation, The American Journal of Philology, Vol. 7, No. 1, pages 1-26;
    F Rusza (2010), The authorlessness of the philosophical sūtras, Acta Orientalia, Volume 63, Number 4, pages 427-442
49. ^Mark Juergensmeyer et al. (2011), Encyclopedia of Global Religion, SAGE Publications, ISBN978-0761927297, page 1122
50. ^ ^abcOlivelle 1998, pp. 12-13.
51. ^Olivelle 1998, p. xxxvi.
52. ^Patrick Olivelle, Upanishads, Encyclopædia Britannica
53. ^Olivelle 1998, p. xxxvii.
54. ^Olivelle 1998, p. xxxviii.
55. ^Olivelle 1998, p. xxxix.
56. ^Deussen 1908, pp. 35–36.
57. ^Tripathy 2010, p. 84.
58. ^Sen 1937, p. 19.
59. ^Ayyangar, T. R. Srinivasa (1941). The Samanya-Vedanta Upanisads. Jain Publishing (Reprint 2007). ISBN978-0895819833. OCLC27193914.
60. ^Deussen, Bedekar & Palsule (tr.) 1997, pp. 556-568.
61. ^Holdrege 1995, pp. 426.
62. ^Srinivasan, Doris (1997). Many Heads, Arms, and Eyes. BRILL Academic. pp. 112–120. ISBN978-9004107588.
63. ^Ayyangar, TRS (1953). Saiva Upanisads. Jain Publishing Co. (Reprint 2007). pp. 194–196. ISBN978-0895819819.
64. ^M. Fujii, On the formation and transmission of the JUB, Harvard Oriental Series, Opera Minora 2, 1997
65. ^Olivelle 1998, pp. 3–4.
66. ^Ranade 1926, p. 61.
67. ^Joshi 1994, pp. 90–92.
68. ^Heehs 2002, p. 85.
69. ^Lal 1992, p. 4090.
70. ^Rinehart 2004, p. 17.
71. ^Singh 2002, pp. 3–4.
72. ^ ^abSchrader & Adyar Library 1908, p. v.
73. ^ ^abcdefgOlivelle 1998, pp. xxxii-xxxiii.
74. ^Paul Deussen (1966), The Philosophy of the Upanishads, Dover, ISBN978-0486216164, pages 283-296; for an example, see Garbha Upanishad
75. ^ ^abPatrick Olivelle (1992), The Samnyasa Upanisads, Oxford University Press, ISBN978-0195070453, pages 1-12, 98-100; for an example, see Bhikshuka Upanishad
76. ^Brooks 1990, pp. 13–14.
77. ^ ^abcdParmeshwaranand 2000, pp. 404–406.
78. ^Paul Deussen (2010 Reprint), Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Volume 2, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN978-8120814691, pages 566-568
79. ^ ^abPeter Heehs (2002), Indian Religions, New York University Press, ISBN978-0814736500, pages 60-88
80. ^Robert C Neville (2000), Ultimate Realities, SUNY Press, ISBN978-0791447765, page 319
81. ^ ^abStephen Phillips (2009), Yoga, Karma, and Rebirth: A Brief History and Philosophy, Columbia University Press, ISBN978-0231144858, pages 28-29
82. ^Olivelle 1998, p. xxiii.
83. ^ ^abPatrick Olivelle (1992), The Samnyasa Upanisads, Oxford University Press, ISBN978-0195070453, pages x-xi, 5
84. ^ ^abThe Yoga Upanishads TR Srinivasa Ayyangar (Translator), SS Sastri (Editor), Adyar Library
85. ^AM Sastri, The Śākta Upaniṣads, with the commentary of Śrī Upaniṣad-Brahma-Yogin, Adyar Library, OCLC7475481
86. ^AM Sastri, The Vaishnava-upanishads: with the commentary of Sri Upanishad-brahma-yogin, Adyar Library, OCLC83901261
87. ^AM Sastri, The Śaiva-Upanishads with the commentary of Sri Upanishad-Brahma-Yogin, Adyar Library, OCLC863321204
88. ^Paul Deussen, Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Volume 1, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN978-8120814684, pages 217-219
89. ^Prāṇāgnihotra is missing in some anthologies, included by Paul Deussen (2010 Reprint), Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Volume 2, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN978-8120814691, page 567
90. ^Atharvasiras is missing in some anthologies, included by Paul Deussen (2010 Reprint), Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Volume 2, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN978-8120814691, page 568
91. ^Glucklich 2008, p. 70.
92. ^Fields 2001, p. 26.
93. ^ ^abOlivelle 1998, p. 4.
94. ^S Radhakrishnan, The Principal Upanishads George Allen & Co., 1951, pages 17-19, Reprinted as ISBN978-8172231248
95. ^Radhakrishnan, Sarvepalli, The Principal Upanishads, Indus / Harper Collins India; 5th edition (1994), ISBN978-8172231248
96. ^S Radhakrishnan, The Principal Upanishads George Allen & Co., 1951, pages 19-20, Reprinted as ISBN978-8172231248
97. ^S Radhakrishnan, The Principal Upanishads George Allen & Co., 1951, page 24, Reprinted as ISBN978-8172231248
98. ^Paul Deussen, Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Volume 1, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN978-8120814684, pages 114-115 with preface and footnotes;
    Robert Hume, Chandogya Upanishad 3.17, The Thirteen Principal Upanishads, Oxford University Press, pages 212-213
99. ^Henk Bodewitz (1999), Hindu Ahimsa, in Violence Denied (Editors: Jan E. M. Houben, et al), Brill, ISBN978-9004113442, page 40
100. ^PV Kane, Samanya Dharma, History of Dharmasastra, Vol. 2, Part 1, page 5
101. ^Chatterjea, Tara. Knowledge and Freedom in Indian Philosophy. Oxford: Lexington Books. p. 148.
102. ^Tull, Herman W. The Vedic Origins of Karma: Cosmos as Man in Ancient Indian Myth and Ritual. SUNY Series in Hindu Studies. P. 28
103. ^ ^abcdMahadevan 1956, p. 57.
104. ^Paul Deussen, Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Volume 1, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN978-8120814684, pages 30-42;
105. ^ ^abMax Müller (1962), Manduka Upanishad, in The Upanishads - Part II, Oxford University Press, Reprinted as ISBN978-0486209937, pages 30-33
106. ^Eduard Roer, Mundaka Upanishad^{[permanent dead link]} Bibliotheca Indica, Vol. XV, No. 41 and 50, Asiatic Society of Bengal, pages 153-154
107. ^Paul Deussen, Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Volume 1, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN978-8120814684, pages 331-333
108. ^'laid those fires' is a phrase in Vedic literature that implies yajna and related ancient religious rituals; see Maitri Upanishad - Sanskrit Text with English Translation^{[permanent dead link]} EB Cowell (Translator), Cambridge University, Bibliotheca Indica, First Prapathaka
109. ^Max Müller, The Upanishads, Part 2, Maitrayana-Brahmana Upanishad, Oxford University Press, pages 287-288
110. ^Hume, Robert Ernest (1921), The Thirteen Principal Upanishads, Oxford University Press, pp. 412–414
111. ^Hume, Robert Ernest (1921), The Thirteen Principal Upanishads, Oxford University Press, pp. 428–429
112. ^Paul Deussen, Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Volume 1, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN978-8120814684, pages 350-351
113. ^ ^abPaul Deussen, The Philosophy of Upanishads at Google Books, University of Kiel, T&T Clark, pages 342-355, 396-412
114. ^RC Mishra (2013), Moksha and the Hindu Worldview, Psychology & Developing Societies, Vol. 25, No. 1, pages 21-42
115. ^Mark B. Woodhouse (1978), Consciousness and Brahman-Atman, The Monist, Vol. 61, No. 1, Conceptions of the Self: East & West (JANUARY, 1978), pages 109-124
116. ^ ^abcJayatilleke 1963, p. 32.
117. ^Jayatilleke 1963, pp. 36-39.
118. ^ ^abJames Lochtefeld, Brahman, The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Vol. 1: A–M, Rosen Publishing. ISBN978-0823931798, page 122
119. ^ ^ab[a] Richard King (1995), Early Advaita Vedanta and Buddhism, State University of New York Press, ISBN978-0791425138, page 64, Quote: 'Atman as the innermost essence or soul of man, and Brahman as the innermost essence and support of the universe. (...) Thus we can see in the Upanishads, a tendency towards a convergence of microcosm and macrocosm, culminating in the equating of Atman with Brahman'.
     [b] Chad Meister (2010), The Oxford Handbook of Religious Diversity, Oxford University Press, ISBN978-0195340136, page 63; Quote: 'Even though Buddhism explicitly rejected the Hindu ideas of Atman ('soul') and Brahman, Hinduism treats Sakyamuni Buddha as one of the ten avatars of Vishnu.'
     [c] David Lorenzen (2004), The Hindu World (Editors: Sushil Mittal and Gene Thursby), Routledge, ISBN0-415215277, pages 208-209, Quote: 'Advaita and nirguni movements, on the other hand, stress an interior mysticism in which the devotee seeks to discover the identity of individual soul (atman) with the universal ground of being (brahman) or to find god within himself'.
120. ^PT Raju (2006), Idealistic Thought of India, Routledge, ISBN978-1406732627, page 426 and Conclusion chapter part XII
121. ^Mariasusai Dhavamony (2002), Hindu-Christian Dialogue: Theological Soundings and Perspectives, Rodopi Press, ISBN978-9042015104, pages 43-44
122. ^For dualism school of Hinduism, see: Francis X. Clooney (2010), Hindu God, Christian God: How Reason Helps Break Down the Boundaries between Religions, Oxford University Press, ISBN978-0199738724, pages 51-58, 111-115;
     For monist school of Hinduism, see: B Martinez-Bedard (2006), Types of Causes in Aristotle and Sankara, Thesis - Department of Religious Studies (Advisors: Kathryn McClymond and Sandra Dwyer), Georgia State University, pages 18-35
123. ^Jeffrey Brodd (2009), World Religions: A Voyage of Discovery, Saint Mary's Press, ISBN978-0884899976, pages 43-47
124. ^Paul Deussen, Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Volume 1, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN978-8120814684, page 91
125. ^[a]Atman, Oxford Dictionaries, Oxford University Press (2012), Quote: '1. real self of the individual; 2. a person's soul';
     [b] John Bowker (2000), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions, Oxford University Press, ISBN978-0192800947, See entry for Atman;
     [c] WJ Johnson (2009), A Dictionary of Hinduism, Oxford University Press, ISBN978-0198610250, See entry for Atman (self).
126. ^Soul is synonymous with self in translations of ancient texts of Hindu philosophy
127. ^Alice Bailey (1973), The Soul and Its Mechanism, ISBN978-0853301158, pages 82-83
128. ^Eknath Easwaran (2007), The Upanishads, Nilgiri Press, ISBN978-1586380212, pages 38-39, 318-320
129. ^ ^abJohn Koller (2012), Shankara, in Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Religion, (Editors: Chad Meister, Paul Copan), Routledge, ISBN978-0415782944, pages 99-102
130. ^Paul Deussen, The Philosophy of the Upanishads at Google Books, Dover Publications, pages 86-111, 182-212
131. ^Nakamura (1990), A History of Early Vedanta Philosophy', p.500. Motilall Banarsidas
132. ^Mahadevan 1956, pp. 62-63.
133. ^Paul Deussen, The Philosophy of the Upanishads, p. 161, at Google Books, pages 161, 240-254
134. ^Ben-Ami Scharfstein (1998), A Comparative History of World Philosophy: From the Upanishads to Kant, State University of New York Press, ISBN978-0791436844, page 376
135. ^H.M. Vroom (1996), No Other Gods, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, ISBN978-0802840974, page 57
136. ^Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty (1986), Dreams, Illusion, and Other Realities, University of Chicago Press, ISBN978-0226618555, page 119
137. ^Archibald Edward Gough (2001), The Philosophy of the Upanishads and Ancient Indian Metaphysics, Routledge, ISBN978-0415245227, pages 47-48
138. ^Teun Goudriaan (2008), Maya: Divine And Human, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN978-8120823891, pages 1-17
139. ^KN Aiyar (Translator, 1914), Sarvasara Upanishad, in Thirty Minor Upanishads, page 17, OCLC6347863
140. ^Adi Shankara, Commentary on Taittiriya Upanishad at Google Books, SS Sastri (Translator), Harvard University Archives, pages 191-198
141. ^Radhakrishnan 1956, p. 272.
142. ^Raju 1992, p. 176-177.
143. ^ ^abRaju 1992, p. 177.
144. ^Ranade 1926, pp. 179–182.
145. ^Mahadevan 1956, p. 63.
146. ^ ^abEncyclopædia Britannica.
147. ^Radhakrishnan 1956, p. 273.
148. ^ ^abKing 1999, p. 221.
149. ^ ^abNakamura 2004, p. 31.
150. ^King 1999, p. 219.
151. ^ ^abCollins 2000, p. 195.
152. ^Radhakrishnan 1956, p. 284.
153. ^John Koller (2012), Shankara in Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Religion (Editors: Chad Meister, Paul Copan), Routledge, ISBN978-0415782944, pages 99-108
154. ^Edward Roer (translator), Shankara's Introduction, p. 3, at Google Books to Brihad Aranyaka Upanishad at pages 3-4; Quote - '(...) Lokayatikas and Bauddhas who assert that the soul does not exist. There are four sects among the followers of Buddha: 1. Madhyamicas who maintain all is void; 2. Yogacharas, who assert except sensation and intelligence all else is void; 3. Sautranticas, who affirm actual existence of external objects no less than of internal sensations; 4. Vaibhashikas, who agree with later (Sautranticas) except that they contend for immediate apprehension of exterior objects through images or forms represented to the intellect.'
155. ^Edward Roer (Translator), Shankara's Introduction, p. 3, at Google Books to Brihad Aranyaka Upanishad at page 3, OCLC19373677
156. ^KN Jayatilleke (2010), Early Buddhist Theory of Knowledge, ISBN978-8120806191, pages 246-249, from note 385 onwards;
     Steven Collins (1994), Religion and Practical Reason (Editors: Frank Reynolds, David Tracy), State Univ of New York Press, ISBN978-0791422175, page 64; Quote: 'Central to Buddhist soteriology is the doctrine of not-self (Pali: anattā, Sanskrit: anātman, the opposed doctrine of ātman is central to Brahmanical thought). Put very briefly, this is the [Buddhist] doctrine that human beings have no soul, no self, no unchanging essence.';
     Edward Roer (Translator), Shankara's Introduction, p. 2, at Google Books, pages 2-4
     Katie Javanaud (2013), Is The Buddhist 'No-Self' Doctrine Compatible With Pursuing Nirvana?, Philosophy Now;
     John C. Plott et al (2000), Global History of Philosophy: The Axial Age, Volume 1, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN978-8120801585, page 63, Quote: 'The Buddhist schools reject any Ātman concept. As we have already observed, this is the basic and ineradicable distinction between Hinduism and Buddhism'.
157. ^Panikkar 2001, p. 669.
158. ^Panikkar 2001, pp. 725–727.
159. ^Panikkar 2001, pp. 747–750.
160. ^Panikkar 2001, pp. 697–701.
161. ^ ^abOlivelle 1998.
162. ^Klostermaier 2007, pp. 361–363.
163. ^ ^abChari 1956, p. 305.
164. ^ ^abStafford Betty (2010), Dvaita, Advaita, and Viśiṣṭādvaita: Contrasting Views of Mokṣa, Asian Philosophy, Vol. 20, No. 2, pages 215-224, doi:10.1080/09552367.2010.484955
165. ^ ^abcdJeaneane D. Fowler (2002). Perspectives of Reality: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Hinduism. Sussex Academic Press. pp. 298–299, 320–321, 331 with notes. ISBN978-1-898723-93-6.
166. ^William M. Indich (1995). Consciousness in Advaita Vedanta. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 1–2, 97–102. ISBN978-81-208-1251-2.
167. ^Bruce M. Sullivan (2001). The A to Z of Hinduism. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 239. ISBN978-0-8108-4070-6.
168. ^Stafford Betty (2010), Dvaita, Advaita, and Viśiṣṭādvaita: Contrasting Views of Mokṣa, Asian Philosophy: An International Journal of the Philosophical Traditions of the East, Volume 20, Issue 2, pages 215-224
169. ^Edward Craig (2000), Concise Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Routledge, ISBN978-0415223645, pages 517-518
170. ^Sharma, Chandradhar (1994). A Critical Survey of Indian Philosophy. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 373–374. ISBN81-208-0365-5.
171. ^ ^abJ.A.B. van Buitenen (2008), Ramanuja - Hindu theologian and Philosopher, Encyclopædia Britannica
172. ^Jon Paul Sydnor (2012). Ramanuja and Schleiermacher: Toward a Constructive Comparative Theology. Casemate. pp. 20–22 with footnote 32. ISBN978-0227680247.
173. ^Joseph P. Schultz (1981). Judaism and the Gentile Faiths: Comparative Studies in Religion. Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. pp. 81–84. ISBN978-0-8386-1707-6.
174. ^Raghavendrachar 1956, p. 322.
175. ^ ^abJeaneane D. Fowler (2002). Perspectives of Reality: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Hinduism. Sussex Academic Press. pp. 356–357. ISBN978-1-898723-93-6.
176. ^Stoker, Valerie (2011). 'Madhva (1238-1317)'. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved 2 November 2016.
177. ^Bryant, Edwin (2007). Krishna : A Sourcebook (Chapter 15 by Deepak Sarma). Oxford University Press. pp. 358–359. ISBN978-0195148923.
178. ^Sharma, Chandradhar (1994). A Critical Survey of Indian Philosophy. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 374–375. ISBN81-208-0365-5.
179. ^Bryant, Edwin (2007). Krishna : A Sourcebook (Chapter 15 by Deepak Sarma). Oxford University Press. pp. 361–362. ISBN978-0195148923.
180. ^ ^abChousalkar 1986, pp. 130-134.
181. ^ ^abWadia 1956, p. 64-65.
182. ^Collins 2000, pp. 197–198.
183. ^Urwick 1920.
184. ^Keith 2007, pp. 602-603.
185. ^RC Mishra (2013), Moksha and the Hindu Worldview, Psychology & Developing Societies, Vol. 25, No. 1, pages 21-42; Chousalkar, Ashok (1986), Social and Political Implications of Concepts Of Justice And Dharma, pages 130-134
186. ^ ^abSharma 1985, p. 20.
187. ^ ^abMüller 1900, p. lvii.
188. ^Müller 1899, p. 204.
189. ^ ^abDeussen, Bedekar & Palsule (tr.) 1997, pp. 558-59.
190. ^Müller 1900, p. lviii.
191. ^Deussen, Bedekar & Palsule (tr.) 1997, pp. 558-559.
192. ^Deussen, Bedekar & Palsule (tr.) 1997, pp. 915-916.
193. ^See Henry Thomas Colebrooke (1858), Essays on the religion and philosophy of the Hindus. London: Williams and Norgate. In this volume, see chapter 1 (pp. 1–69), On the Vedas, or Sacred Writings of the Hindus, reprinted from Colebrooke's Asiatic Researches, Calcutta: 1805, Vol 8, pp. 369–476. A translation of the Aitareya Upanishad appears in pages 26–30 of this chapter.
194. ^Zastoupil, L (2010). Rammohun Roy and the Making of Victorian Britain, By Lynn Zastoupil. ISBN9780230111493. Retrieved 1 June 2014.
195. ^'The Upanishads, Part 1, by Max Müller'.
196. ^Hume, Robert Ernest (1921), The Thirteen Principal Upanishads, Oxford University Press
197. ^Deussen, Bedekar & Palsule (tr.) 1997.
198. ^Radhakrishnan, Sarvapalli (1953), The Principal Upanishads, New Delhi: HarperCollins Publishers (1994 Reprint), ISBN81-7223-124-5
199. ^Olivelle 1992.
200. ^'AAS SAC A.K. Ramanujan Book Prize for Translation'. Association of Asian Studies. 25 June 2002. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
201. ^Schopenhauer & Payne 2000, p. 395.
202. ^Schopenhauer & Payne 2000, p. 397.
203. ^Herman Wayne Tull (1989). The Vedic Origins of Karma: Cosmos as Man in Ancient Indian Myth and Ritual. State University of New York Press. pp. 14–15. ISBN978-0-7914-0094-4.
204. ^Klaus G. Witz (1998). The Supreme Wisdom of the Upaniṣads: An Introduction. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 35–44. ISBN978-81-208-1573-5.
205. ^Versluis 1993, pp. 69, 76, 95. 106–110.
206. ^Eliot 1963.
207. ^Easwaran 2007, p. 9.
208. ^Juan Mascaró, The Upanishads, Penguin Classics, ISBN978-0140441635, page 7, 146, cover
209. ^ ^abPaul Deussen, The Philosophy of the Upanishads University of Kiel, T&T Clark, pages 150-179

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• Deussen, Paul; Bedekar, V.M. (tr.); Palsule (tr.), G.B. (1997). Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Volume 2. Motilal Banarsidass. ISBN978-81-208-1467-7.
• Deussen, P. (2010), The Philosophy of the Upanishads, Cosimo, ISBN978-1-61640-239-6
• Chari, P. N. Srinivasa (1956), Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (ed.), History of Philosophy Eastern and Western
• Chousalkar, Ashok (1986), Social and Political Implications of Concepts Of Justice And Dharma, Mittal Publications
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• King, Richard (1995), Early Advaita Vedānta and Buddhism: the Mahāyāna context of the Gauḍapādīya-kārikā, Gauḍapāda, State University of New York Press, ISBN978-0-7914-2513-8
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• Olivelle, Patrick (1992). The Samnyasa Upanisads. Oxford University Press. ISBN978-0195070453.
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• Sen, Sris Chandra (1937), 'Vedic literature and Upanishads', The Mystic Philosophy of the Upanishads, General Printers & Publishers
• Sharma, B. N. Krishnamurti (2000). A history of the Dvaita school of Vedānta and its literature: from the earliest beginnings to our own times. Motilal Banarsidass Publishers. ISBN978-81-208-1575-9.
• Sharma, Shubhra (1985), Life in the Upanishads, Abhinav Publications, ISBN978-81-7017-202-4
• Singh, N.K (2002), Encyclopaedia of Hinduism, Anmol Publications PVT. LTD, ISBN978-81-7488-168-7
• Slater, Thomas Ebenezer (1897), Studies in the Upanishads ATLA monograph preservation program, Christian Literature Society for India
• Smith, Huston (1995). The Illustrated World's Religions: A Guide to Our Wisdom Traditions. New York: Labyrinth Publishing. ISBN0-06-067453-9.
• Tripathy, Preeti (2010), Indian religions: tradition, history and culture, Axis Publications, ISBN978-93-80376-17-2
• Urwick, Edward Johns (1920), The message of Plato: a re-interpretation of the 'Republic', Methuen & co. ltd, ISBN9781136231162
• Varghese, Alexander P (2008), India : History, Religion, Vision And Contribution To The World, Volume 1, Atlantic Publishers & Distributors, ISBN978-81-269-0903-2
• Versluis, Arthur (1993), American transcendentalism and Asian religions, Oxford University Press US, ISBN978-0-19-507658-5
• Wadia, A.R. (1956), 'Socrates, Plato and Aristotle', in Radhakrishnan, Sarvepalli (ed.), History of Philosophy Eastern and Western, vol. II, George Allen & Unwin Ltd
• Raju, P. T. (1992), The Philosophical Traditions of India, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Private Limited

Further reading[edit]

• Edgerton, Franklin (1965). The Beginnings of Indian Philosophy. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
• Embree, Ainslie T. (1966). The Hindu Tradition. New York: Random House. ISBN0-394-71702-3.
• Hume, Robert Ernest. The Thirteen Principal Upanishads. Oxford University Press.
• Johnston, Charles (1898). From the Upanishads. Kshetra Books (Reprinted in 2014). ISBN9781495946530.
• Müller, Max, translator, The Upaniṣads, Part I, New York: Dover Publications (Reprinted in 1962), ISBN0-486-20992-X
• Müller, Max, translator, The Upaniṣads, Part II, New York: Dover Publications (Reprinted in 1962), ISBN0-486-20993-8
• Radhakrishnan, Sarvapalli (1953). The Principal Upanishads. New Delhi: HarperCollins Publishers India (Reprinted in 1994). ISBN81-7223-124-5.

External links[edit]

• Complete set of 108 Upanishads, Manuscripts with the commentary of Brahma-Yogin, Adyar Library
• Upanishads, Sanskrit documents in various formats
• The Upaniṣads article in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
• The Theory of 'Soul' in the Upanishads, T. W. Rhys Davids (1899)
• Spinozistic Substance and Upanishadic Self: A Comparative Study, M. S. Modak (1931)
• W. B. Yeats and the Upanishads, A. Davenport (1952)
• The Concept of Self in the Upanishads: An Alternative Interpretation, D. C. Mathur (1972)

The Rigveda (Sanskrit: ऋग्वेदṛgveda, from ṛc 'praise'^[1] and veda 'knowledge') is an ancient Indian collection of Vedic Sanskrithymns along with associated commentaries on liturgy, ritual and mysticalexegesis. It is one of the four sacred canonical texts (śruti) of Hinduism known as the Vedas.^[2][3]

The core text, known as the Rigveda Samhita, is a collection of 1,028 hymns (sūktas) in about 10,600 verses (called ṛc, eponymous of the name Rigveda), organized into ten books (maṇḍalas).In the eight books that were composed the earliest, the hymns are mostly praise of specific deities.^[4] The younger books (books 1 and 10) in part also deal with philosophical or speculative questions,^[5] with the virtue of dāna (charity) in society^[6] and with other metaphysical issues in their hymns.^[7]

The oldest layers of the Rigveda Samhita are among the oldest extant texts in any Indo-European language, perhaps of similar age as certain Hittite texts.^[8]Philological and linguistic evidence indicates that the bulk of the Rigveda Samhita was composed in the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent, most likely between c. 1500 and 1200 BC,^[9][10][11] although a wider approximation of c. 1700–1100 BC has also been given.^{[12][13][note 1]} The initial codification of the Rigveda took place during the early Kuru kingdom (c. 1200–900 BC).

Some of its verses continue to be recited during Hindu rites of passage celebrations (such as weddings) and prayers, making it probably the world's oldest religious text in continued use.^[18][19]

The associated material has been preserved from two shakhas or 'schools', known as Śākalyaand Bāṣkala. The school-specific commentaries are known as Brahmanas (Aitareya-brahmana and Kaushitaki-brahmana) Aranyakas (Aitareya-aranyaka and Kaushitaki-aranyaka), and Upanishads (partly excerpted from the Aranyakas: Bahvrca-brahmana-upanishad, Aitareya-upanishad, Samhita-upanishad, Kaushitaki-upanishad).

• 1Text
  • 1.1Organization
  • 1.5Manuscripts
• 2Contents
• 4Reception in Hinduism

Text

Organization

Mandalas

The text is organized in ten 'books', or maṇḍalas ('circles'), of varying age and length.^[20] The text clearly originates as oral literature, and 'books' may be a misleading term, the individual mandalas are, much rather, standalone collections of hymns that were intended to be memorized by the members of various groups of priests.^[21]

This is particularly true of the 'family books', mandalas 2–7, which form the oldest part of the Rigveda and account for 38 per cent of the entire text. They are called 'family books' because each of them is attributed to an individual rishi, and was transmitted within the lineage of this rishi's family, or of his students.^[22]

The hymns within each of the family books are arranged in collections each dealing with a particular deity: Agni comes first, Indra comes second, and so on. They are generally arranged by decreasing number of hymns within each section.^[23] Within each such collection, the hymns are arranged in descending order of the number of stanzas per hymn. If two hymns in the same collection have equal numbers of stanzas then they are arranged so that the number of syllables in the metre are in descending order.^[24][25] The second to seventh mandalas have a uniform format.^[23]

The eighth and ninth mandalas, comprising hymns of mixed age, account for 15% and 9%, respectively. The ninth mandala is entirely dedicated to Soma and the Soma ritual.The hymns in the ninth mandala are arranged by both their prosody structure (chanda) and by their length.^[23]

The first and the tenth mandalas are the youngest; they are also the longest books, of 191 suktas each, accounting for 37% of the text. Nevertheless, some of the hymns in mandalas 8, 1 and 10 may still belong to an earlier period and may be as old as the material in the family books.^[26] The first mandala has a unique arrangement not found in the other nine mandalas. The first 84 hymns of the tenth mandala have a structure different than the remaining hymns in it.^[23]

Prosody

Each mandala consists of hymns or sūktas (su- + ukta, literally, 'well recited, eulogy') intended for various rituals. The sūktas in turn consist of individual stanzas called ṛc ('praise', pl.ṛcas), which are further analysed into units of verse called pada ('foot' or step).

The meters most used in the ṛcas are the gayatri (3 verses of 8 syllables), anushtubh (4×8), trishtubh (4×11) and jagati (4×12). The trishtubh meter (40%) and gayatri meter (25%) dominate in the Rigveda.^[27][28][29]

For pedagogical convenience, each mandala is divided into roughly equal sections of several sūktas, called anuvāka ('recitation'), which modern publishers often omit. Another scheme divides the entire text over the 10 mandalas into aṣṭaka ('eighth'), adhyāya ('chapter') and varga ('class'). Some publishers give both classifications in a single edition.

The most common numbering scheme is by book, hymn and stanza (and pada a, b, c ..., if required). E.g., the first verse is in three times eight syllables (gayatri):

1.1.1a agním ī́ḷe puróhitaṃ 1b yajñásya deváṃ ṛtvíjam 1c hótāraṃ ratna-dhā́tamam
'Agni I invoke, the house-priest / the god, minister of sacrifice / the presiding priest, bestower of wealth.'

Composers

Tradition associates a rishi (the composer) with each ṛc of the Rigveda.^[30] Most sūktas are attributed to single composers. The 'family books' (2–7) are so-called because they have hymns by members of the same clan in each book; but other clans are also represented in the Rigveda. In all, 10 families of rishis account for more than 95 per cent of the ṛcs; for each of them the Rigveda includes a lineage-specific āprī hymn (a special sūkta of rigidly formulaic structure, used for rituals.

Transmission

The original text (as authored by the Rishis) is close to but not identical to the extant Samhitapatha, but metrical and other observations allow reconstruction (in part at least) of the original text from the extant one, as printed in the Harvard Oriental Series, vol. 50 (1994).^[32]

The surviving form of the Rigveda is based on an early Iron Age collection that established the core 'family books' (mandalas 2–7, ordered by author, deity and meter^[33]) and a later redaction, coeval with the redaction of the other Vedas, dating several centuries after the hymns were composed. This redaction also included some additions (contradicting the strict ordering scheme) and orthoepic changes to the Vedic Sanskrit such as the regularization of sandhi (termed orthoepische Diaskeuase by Oldenberg, 1888).

As with the other Vedas, the redacted text has been handed down in several versions, most importantly the Padapatha, in which each word is isolated in pausa form and is used for just one way of memorization; and the Samhitapatha, which combines words according to the rules of sandhi (the process being described in the Pratisakhya) and is the memorized text used for recitation.

The Padapatha and the Pratisakhya anchor the text's true meaning,^[34] and the fixed text was preserved with unparalleled fidelity for more than a millennium by oral tradition alone.^[35] In order to achieve this the oral tradition prescribed very structured enunciation, involving breaking down the Sanskrit compounds into stems and inflections, as well as certain permutations. This interplay with sounds gave rise to a scholarly tradition of morphology and phonetics. The Rigveda was probably not written down until the Gupta period (4th to 6th centuries AD), by which time the Brahmi script had become widespread (the oldest surviving manuscripts are from c. 1040 AD, discovered in Nepal).^[2][36] The oral tradition still continued into recent times.

There is a widely accepted timeframe for the initial codification of the Rigveda by compiling the hymns very late in the Rigvedic or rather in the early post-Rigvedic period, including the arrangement of the individual hymns in ten books, coeval with the composition of the younger Veda Samhitas. This time coincides with the early Kuru kingdom, shifting the center of Vedic culture east from the Punjab into what is now Uttar Pradesh. The fixing of the samhitapatha (by enforcing regular application of sandhi) and of the padapatha (by dissolving Sandhi out of the earlier metrical text), occurred during the later Brahmana period, in roughly the 6th century BC.^[37]

Recensions

Several shakhas ('branches', i. e. recensions) of Rig Veda are known to have existed in the past. Of these, Śākalya is the only one to have survived in its entirety. Another shakha that may have survived is the Bāṣkala, although this is uncertain.^[38][39][40]

The surviving padapatha version of the Rigveda text is ascribed to Śākalya.^[41] The Śākala recension has 1,017 regular hymns, and an appendix of 11 vālakhilya hymns^[42] which are now customarily included in the 8th mandala (as 8.49–8.59), for a total of 1028 hymns.^[43] The Bāṣkala recension includes eight of these vālakhilya hymns among its regular hymns, making a total of 1025 regular hymns for this śākhā.^[44] In addition, the Bāṣkala recension has its own appendix of 98 hymns, the Khilani.^[45]

In the 1877 edition of Aufrecht, the 1028 hymns of the Rigveda contain a total of 10,552 ṛcs, or 39,831 padas. The Shatapatha Brahmana gives the number of syllables to be 432,000,^[46] while the metrical text of van Nooten and Holland (1994) has a total of 395,563 syllables (or an average of 9.93 syllables per pada); counting the number of syllables is not straightforward because of issues with sandhi and the post-Rigvedic pronunciation of syllables like súvar as svàr.

Three other shakhas are mentioned in Caraṇavyuha, a pariśiṣṭa (supplement) of Yajurveda: Māṇḍukāyana, Aśvalāyana and Śaṅkhāyana. The Atharvaveda lists two more shakhas. The differences between all these shakhas are very minor, limited to varying order of content and inclusion (or non-inclusion) of a few verses. The following information is known about the shakhas other than Śākalya and Bāṣkala:^[47]

• Māṇḍukāyana: Perhaps the oldest of the Rigvedic shakhas.
• Aśvalāyana: Includes 212 verses, all of which are newer than the other Rigvedic hymns.
• Śaṅkhāyana: Very similar to Aśvalāyana
• Saisiriya: Mentioned in the Rigveda Pratisakhya. Very similar to Śākala, with a few additional verses; might have derived from or merged with it.

Manuscripts

Writing appears in India around the 3rd century BC in the form of the Brāhmī script, but texts of the length of the Rigveda were likely not written down until much later,^{[note 2]} and the oldest extant manuscripts date to c. 1040 AD, discovered in Nepal.^[2] While written manuscripts were used for teaching in medieval times, they were written on birch bark or palm leaves, which decompose and therefore were routinely copied over the generations to help preserve the text. Some Rigveda commentaries may date from the second half of the first millennium AD. The hymns were thus composed and preserved by oral tradition for several^[51] millennia from the time of their composition until the redaction of the Rigveda, and the entire Rigveda was preserved in shakhas for another 2,500 years from the time of its redaction until the editio princeps by Rosen, Aufrecht and Max Müller.

Versions

There are, for example, 30 manuscripts of Rigveda at the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, collected in the 19th century by Georg Bühler, Franz Kielhorn and others, originating from different parts of India, including Kashmir, Gujarat, the then Rajaputana, Central Provinces etc. They were transferred to Deccan College, Pune, in the late 19th century. They are in the Sharada and Devanagari scripts, written on birch bark and paper. The oldest of them is dated to 1464. The 30 manuscripts of Rigveda preserved at the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Pune were added to UNESCO's Memory of the World Register in 2007.^[52][53]

Of these 30 manuscripts, nine contain the samhita text, five have the padapatha in addition. 13 contain Sayana's commentary. At least five manuscripts (MS. no. 1/A1879-80, 1/A1881-82, 331/1883-84 and 5/Viś I) have preserved the complete text of the Rigveda. MS no. 5/1875-76, written on birch bark in bold Sharada, was only in part used by Max Müller for his edition of the Rigveda with Sayana's commentary.

Müller used 24 manuscripts then available to him in Europe, while the Pune Edition used over five dozen manuscripts, but the editors of Pune Edition could not procure many manuscripts used by Müller and by the Bombay Edition, as well as from some other sources; hence the total number of extant manuscripts known then must surpass perhaps eighty at least.^[54]

Comparison

The various Rigveda manuscripts discovered so far show some differences. Broadly, the most studied Śākala recension has 1017 hymns, includes an appendix of eleven valakhīlya hymns which are often counted with the eighth mandala, for a total of 1028 metrical hymns. The Bāṣakala version of Rigveda includes eight of these vālakhilya hymns among its regular hymns, making a total of 1025 hymns in the main text for this śākhā. The Bāṣakala text also has an appendix of 98 hymns, called the Khilani, bringing the total to 1,123 hymns. The manuscripts of Śākala recension of the Rigveda have about 10,600 verses, organized into ten Books (Mandalas).^[55][56] Books 2 through 7 are internally homogeneous in style, while Books 1, 8 and 10 are compilation of verses of internally different styles suggesting that these books are likely a collection of compositions by many authors.^[56]

The first mandala is the largest, with 191 hymns and 2006 verses, and it was added to the text after Books 2 through 9. The last, or the 10th Book, also has 191 hymns but 1754 verses, making it the second largest. The language analytics suggest the 10th Book, chronologically, was composed and added last.^[56] The content of the 10th Book also suggest that the authors knew and relied on the contents of the first nine books.^[56]

The Rigveda is the largest of the four Vedas, and many of its verses appear in the other Vedas.^[57] Almost all of the 1875 verses found in Samaveda are taken from different parts of the Rigveda, either once or as repetition, and rewritten in a chant song form. The Books 8 and 9 of the Rigveda are by far the largest source of verses for Sama Veda. The Book 10 contributes the largest number of the 1350 verses of Rigveda found in Atharvaveda, or about one fifth of the 5987 verses in the Atharvaveda text.^[56] A bulk of 1875 ritual-focussed verses of Yajurveda, in its numerous versions, also borrow and build upon the foundation of verses in Rigveda.^[57][58]

Contents

Altogether the Rigveda consists of:

• the Samhita (hymns to the deities, the oldest part of the Rigveda)
• the Brahmanas, commentaries on the hymns
• the Aranyakas or 'forest books'
• the Upanishads

In western usage, 'Rigveda' usually refers to the Rigveda Samhita, while the Brahmanas are referred to as the 'Rigveda Brahmanas' (etc.). Technically speaking, however, 'the Rigveda' refers to the entire body of texts transmitted along with the Samhita portion. Different bodies of commentary were transmitted in the different shakhas or 'schools'.Only a small portion of these texts has been preserved: The texts of only two out of five shakhas mentioned by the Rigveda Pratishakhya have survived.The late (15th or 16th century) Shri Guru Charitra even claims the existence of twelve Rigvedic shakhas.The two surviving Rigvedic corpora are those of the Śākala and the Bāṣkala shakhas.

Hymns

The Rigvedic hymns are dedicated to various deities, chief of whom are Indra, a heroic god praised for having slain his enemy Vrtra; Agni, the sacrificial fire; and Soma, the sacred potion or the plant it is made from. Equally prominent gods are the Adityas or Asura gods Mitra–Varuna and Ushas (the dawn). Also invoked are Savitr, Vishnu, Rudra, Pushan, Brihaspati or Brahmanaspati, as well as deified natural phenomena such as Dyaus Pita (the shining sky, Father Heaven), Prithivi (the earth, Mother Earth), Surya (the sun god), Vayu or Vata (the wind), Apas (the waters), Parjanya (the thunder and rain), Vac (the word), many rivers (notably the Sapta Sindhu, and the Sarasvati River). The Adityas, Vasus, Rudras, Sadhyas, Ashvins, Maruts, Rbhus, and the Vishvadevas ('all-gods') as well as the 'thirty-three gods' are the groups of deities mentioned.^{[citation needed]}

• Mandala 1 comprises 191 hymns. Hymn 1.1 is addressed to Agni, and his name is the first word of the Rigveda. The remaining hymns are mainly addressed to Agni and Indra, as well as Varuna, Mitra, the Ashvins, the Maruts, Usas, Surya, Rbhus, Rudra, Vayu, Brhaspati, Visnu, Heaven and Earth, and all the Gods. This Mandala is dated to have been added to Rigveda after Mandala 2 through 9, and includes the philosophical Riddle Hymn 1.164, which inspires chapters in later Upanishads such as the Mundaka.^[5][59][60]
• Mandala 2 comprises 43 hymns, mainly to Agni and Indra. It is chiefly attributed to the Rishi gṛtsamada śaunahotra.^{[citation needed]}
• Mandala 3 comprises 62 hymns, mainly to Agni and Indra and the Vishvedevas. The verse 3.62.10 has great importance in Hinduism as the Gayatri Mantra. Most hymns in this book are attributed to viśvāmitra gāthinaḥ.^{[citation needed]}
• Mandala 4 comprises 58 hymns, mainly to Agni and Indra as well as the Rbhus, Ashvins, Brhaspati, Vayu, Usas, etc. Most hymns in this book are attributed to vāmadeva gautama.^{[citation needed]}
• Mandala 5 comprises 87 hymns, mainly to Agni and Indra, the Visvedevas ('all the gods'), the Maruts, the twin-deity Mitra-Varuna and the Asvins. Two hymns each are dedicated to Ushas (the dawn) and to Savitr. Most hymns in this book are attributed to the atri clan.^{[citation needed]}
• Mandala 6 comprises 75 hymns, mainly to Agni and Indra, all the gods, Pusan, Ashvin, Usas, etc. Most hymns in this book are attributed to the bārhaspatya family of Angirasas.^{[citation needed]}
• Mandala 7 comprises 104 hymns, to Agni, Indra, the Visvadevas, the Maruts, Mitra-Varuna, the Asvins, Ushas, Indra-Varuna, Varuna, Vayu (the wind), two each to Sarasvati (ancient river/goddess of learning) and Vishnu, and to others. Most hymns in this book are attributed to vasiṣṭha maitravaruṇi.^{[citation needed]}
• Mandala 8 comprises 103 hymns to various gods. Hymns 8.49 to 8.59 are the apocryphal vālakhilya. Hymns 1–48 and 60–66 are attributed to the kāṇva clan, the rest to other (Angirasa) poets.^{[citation needed]}
• Mandala 9 comprises 114 hymns, entirely devoted to Soma Pavamana, the cleansing of the sacred potion of the Vedic religion.^{[citation needed]}
• Mandala 10 comprises additional 191 hymns, frequently in later language, addressed to Agni, Indra and various other deities. It contains the Nadistuti sukta which is in praise of rivers and is important for the reconstruction of the geography of the Vedic civilization and the Purusha sukta which has been important in studies of Vedic sociology.^[61] It also contains the Nasadiya sukta (10.129) which deals with multiple speculations about the creation of universe, and whether anyone can know the right answer.^[62] The marriage hymns (10.85) and the death hymns (10.10–18) still are of great importance in the performance of the corresponding Grhya rituals.

Rigveda Brahmanas

Of the Brahmanas that were handed down in the schools of the Bahvṛcas (i.e. 'possessed of many verses'), as the followers of the Rigveda are called, two have come down to us, namely those of the Aitareyins and the Kaushitakins. The Aitareya-brahmana^[63] and the Kaushitaki- (or Sankhayana-) brahmana evidently have for their groundwork the same stock of traditional exegetic matter. They differ, however, considerably as regards both the arrangement of this matter and their stylistic handling of it, with the exception of the numerous legends common to both, in which the discrepancy is comparatively slight. There is also a certain amount of material peculiar to each of them.^{[citation needed]}

The Kaushitaka is, upon the whole, far more concise in its style and more systematic in its arrangement features which would lead one to infer that it is probably the more modern work of the two. It consists of 30 chapters (adhyaya); while the Aitareya has 40, divided into eight books (or pentads, pancaka), of five chapters each. The last 10 adhyayas of the latter work are, however, clearly a later addition though they must have already formed part of it at the time of Pāṇini (c. 5th century BC), if, as seems probable, one of his grammatical sutras, regulating the formation of the names of Brahmanas, consisting of 30 and 40 adhyayas, refers to these two works. In this last portion occurs the well-known legend (also found in the Shankhayana-sutra, but not in the Kaushitaki-brahmana) of Shunahshepa, whom his father Ajigarta sells and offers to slay, the recital of which formed part of the inauguration of kings.^{[citation needed]}

While the Aitareya deals almost exclusively with the Soma sacrifice, the Kaushitaka, in its first six chapters, treats of the several kinds of haviryajna, or offerings of rice, milk, ghee, etc., whereupon follows the Soma sacrifice in this way, that chapters 7–10 contain the practical ceremonial and 11–30 the recitations (shastra) of the hotar. Sayana, in the introduction to his commentary on the work, ascribes the Aitareya to the sage Mahidasa Aitareya (i.e. son of Itara), also mentioned elsewhere as a philosopher; and it seems likely enough that this person arranged the Brahmana and founded the school of the Aitareyins. Regarding the authorship of the sister work we have no information, except that the opinion of the sage Kaushitaki is frequently referred to in it as authoritative, and generally in opposition to the Paingya—the Brahmana, it would seem, of a rival school, the Paingins. Probably, therefore, it is just what one of the manuscripts calls it—the Brahmana of Sankhayana (composed) in accordance with the views of Kaushitaki.^{[citation needed]}

Rigveda Aranyakas and Upanishads

Each of these two Brahmanas is supplemented by a 'forest book', or Aranyaka. The Aitareyaranyaka is not a uniform production. It consists of five books (aranyaka), three of which, the first and the last two, are of a liturgical nature, treating of the ceremony called mahavrata, or great vow. The last of these books, composed in sutra form, is, however, doubtless of later origin, and is, indeed, ascribed by Hindu authorities either to Shaunaka or to Ashvalayana. The second and third books, on the other hand, are purely speculative, and are also styled the Bahvrca-brahmana-upanishad. Again, the last four chapters of the second book are usually singled out as the Aitareya Upanishad,^[64] ascribed, like its Brahmana (and the first book), to Mahidasa Aitareya; and the third book is also referred to as the Samhita-upanishad. As regards the Kaushitaki-aranyaka, this work consists of 15 adhyayas, the first two (treating of the mahavrata ceremony) and the 7th and 8th of which correspond to the first, fifth, and third books of the Aitareyaranyaka, respectively, whilst the four adhyayas usually inserted between them constitute the highly interesting Kaushitaki (Brahmana-) Upanishad,^[65] of which we possess two different recensions. The remaining portions (9–15) of the Aranyaka treat of the vital airs, the internal Agnihotra, etc., ending with the vamsha, or succession of teachers.

Dating and historical context

The Vedic Sanskrit text of the redacted version of the Rig Veda was transmitted remarkably unchanged, preserving, apart from certain prosodic changes (the systematic application of sandhi rules) the linguistic stage of the Late Bronze Age.Because of the faithful preservation of the text, the language was no longer immediately understandable to scholars of Classical Sanskrit by about 500 BC, necessitating commentaries interpreting the meaning of the text of the hymns.^[66] The Brahmanas contain numerous misinterpretations, due to this linguistic change,^[66] some of which were characterised by Sri Aurobindo as 'grotesque nonsense.'^[66]

The earliest text were composed in greater Punjab (northwest India and Pakistan), and the more philosophical later texts were most likely composed in or around the region that is the modern era state of Haryana.^[67]

Philological estimates tend to date the bulk of the text to the second half of the second millennium.^{[note 3]}

Being composed in an early Indo-Aryan language, the hymns must post-date the Indo-Iranian separation, dated to roughly 2000 BC.^[69] A reasonable date close to that of the composition of the core of the Rigveda is that of the Mitanni documents of c. 1400 BC, which contain Indo-Aryan nomenclature.^[70] Other evidence also points to a composition close to 1400 BC.^[71][72]

The Rigveda's core is accepted to date to the late Bronze Age, making it one of the few examples with an unbroken tradition. Its composition is usually dated to roughly between c. 1500 BC – 1200 BC.^{[9][10][11][note 4]}

The Rigveda is far more archaic than any other Indo-Aryan text. For this reason, it was in the center of attention of western scholarship from the times of Max Müller and Rudolf Roth onwards. The Rigveda records an early stage of Vedic religion. There are strong linguistic and cultural similarities with the early IranianAvesta,^[73][74] deriving from the Proto-Indo-Iranian times,^[75] often associated with the early Andronovo culture (or rather, the Sintashta culture within the early Andronovo horizon) of c. 2000 BC.^[76]

The Rigveda offers no direct evidence of social or political system in Vedic era, whether ordinary or elite.^[61] Only hints such as cattle raising and horse racing are discernible, and the text offers very general ideas about the ancient Indian society. There is no evidence, state Jamison and Brereton, of any elaborate, pervasive or structured caste system.^[61] Social stratification seems embryonic, then and later a social ideal rather than a social reality.^[61] The society was semi-nomadic and pastoral with evidence of agriculture since hymns mention plow and celebrate agricultural divinities.^[77] There was division of labor, and complementary relationship between kings and poet-priests but no discussion of relative status of social classes.^[61] Women in Rigveda appear disproportionately as speakers in dialogue hymns, both as mythical or divine Indrani, Apsaras Urvasi, or Yami, as well as Apāla Ātreyī (RV 8.91), Godhā (RV 10.134.6), Ghoṣā Kākṣīvatī (RV 10.39.40), Romaśā (RV 1.126.7), Lopāmudrā (RV 1.179.1-2), Viśvavārā Ātreyī (RV 5.28), Śacī Paulomī (RV 10.159), Śaśvatī Āṅgirasī (RV 8.1.34). The women of Rigveda are quite outspoken and appear more sexually confident than men, in the text.^[61] Elaborate and esthetic hymns on wedding suggest rites of passage had developed during the Rigvedic period.^[61] There is little evidence of dowry and no evidence of sati in it or related Vedic texts.^[78]

The Rigvedic hymns mention rice and porridge, in hymns such as 8.83, 8.70, 8.77 and 1.61 in some versions of the text,^[79] however there is no discussion of rice cultivation.^[77] The term 'ayas' (metal) occurs in the Rigveda, but it is unclear which metal it was.^[80] Iron is not mentioned in Rigveda, something scholars have used to help date Rigveda to have been composed before 1000 BC.^[67] Hymn 5.63 mentions 'metal cloaked in gold', suggesting metal working had progressed in the Vedic culture.^[81]

Some of the names of gods and goddesses found in the Rigveda are found amongst other belief systems based on Proto-Indo-European religion, while words used share common roots with words from other Indo-European languages.^[82]

The horse (ashva), cattle, sheep and goat play an important role in the Rigveda. There are also references to the elephant (Hastin, Varana), camel (Ustra, especially in Mandala 8), ass (khara, rasabha), buffalo (Mahisa), wolf, hyena, lion (Simha), mountain goat (sarabha) and to the gaur in the Rigveda.^[83] The peafowl (mayura), the goose (hamsa) and the chakravaka (Tadorna ferruginea) are some birds mentioned in the Rigveda.

Reception in Hinduism

Shruti

The Vedas as a whole are classed as 'shruti' in Hindu tradition.This has been compared to the concept of divine revelation in Western religious tradition, but Staal argues that 'it is nowhere stated that the Veda was revealed', and that shruti simply means 'that what is heard, in the sense that it is transmitted from father to son or from teacher to pupil'.^[84] The Rigveda, or other Vedas, do not anywhere assert that they are apauruṣeyā, and this reverential term appears only centuries after the end of the Vedic period in the texts of the Mimamsa school of Hindu philosophy.^[84][85][86] The text of Rigveda suggests it was 'composed by poets, human individuals whose names were household words' in the Vedic age, states Staal.^[84]

Medieval Hindu scholarship

By the period of Puranic Hinduism, in the medieval period, the language of the hymns had become 'almost entirely unintelligible', and their interpretation mostly hinged on mystical ideas and sound symbolism.^[87]

According to Hindu tradition, the Rigvedic hymns along with the other Vedas, the Mahabharata and the Puranas were compiled by sage Vyāsa.^[88] According to the Śatapatha Brāhmana, the number of syllables in the Rigveda is 432,000, but the surviving Rigveda does not confirm this number. The Rigveda does have embedded numerical patterns such as 10,800 stanzas, which corresponds to 30 times 360, and a fourth of 432 that appears in many Hindu contexts (108 Upanishads). The Shatapatha Brahmana claims that there are 10,800,000 stars in the sky. According to Thomas McEvilley, an art historian and academic who compared Greek and Indian literature, the numbers such as 432 and 108 may be of significance to the Hindus, but many numerology claims do not verify and the 'believer is left with the consolation of thinking that the missing' are there 'but unmanifest'.^[89]

The authors of the Brāhmana literature discussed and interpreted the Vedic ritual. Yaska was an early commentator of the Rigveda by discussing the meanings of difficult words. In the 14th century, Sāyana wrote an exhaustive commentary on it.^{[citation needed]}

A number of other commentaries (bhāṣyas) were written during the medieval period, including the commentaries by Skandasvamin (pre-Sayana, roughly of the Gupta period), Udgitha (pre-Sayana), Venkata-Madhava (pre-Sayana, c. 10th to 12th centuries) and Mudgala (after Sayana, an abbreviated version of Sayana's commentary).^{[90][full citation needed]}

Arya Samaj and Aurobindo movements

In the 19th- and early 20th-centuries, some reformers like Swami Dayananda Saraswati—founder of the Arya Samaj, Sri Aurobindo—founder of Sri Aurobindo Ashram, discussed the Vedas, including the Rig veda, for their philosophies. According to Robson, Dayanand believed 'there were no errors in the Vedas (including the Rigveda), and if anyone showed him an error, he would maintain that it was a corruption added later'.^[91]

Dayananda and Aurobindo interpret the Vedic scholars had a monotheistic conception.^[92] Aurobindo attempted to interpret hymns to Agni in the Rigveda as mystical.^[92] Aurobindo states that the Vedic hymns were a quest after a higher truth, define the Rta (basis of Dharma), conceive life in terms of a struggle between the forces of light and darkness, and sought the ultimate reality.^[92]

Contemporary Hinduism

Rigveda, in contemporary Hinduism, has been a reminder of the ancient cultural heritage and point of pride for Hindus, with some hymns still in use in major rites of passage ceremonies, but the literal acceptance of most of the textual essence is long gone.^[95][96]Louis Renou wrote that the text is a distant object, and 'even in the most orthodox domains, the reverence to the Vedas has come to be a simple raising of the hat'.^[95] Musicians and dance groups celebrate the text as a mark of Hindu heritage, through incorporating Rigvedic hymns in their compositions, such as in Hamsadhvani and Subhapantuvarali of Carnatic music, and these have remained popular among the Hindus for decades.^[95] However, the contemporary Hindu beliefs are distant from the precepts in the ancient layer of Rigveda samhitas:

The social history and context of the Vedic texts are extremely distant from contemporary Hindu religious beliefs and practice, a reverence for the Vedas as an exemplar of Hindu heritage continues to inform a contemporary understanding of Hinduism. Popular reverence for Vedic scripture is similarly focused on the abiding authority and prestige of the Vedas rather than on any particular exegesis or engagement with the subject matter of the text.

In contemporary Hindu nationalism, the Rigveda has also been adduced in the 'Indigenous Aryans' debate (see Out of India theory).^[97][98] These theories are controversial.^[99][100]

Monism debate

While the older hymns of the Rigveda reflect sacrifical ritual typical of polytheism,^[101] its younger parts, specifically mandalas 1 and 10, have been noted as containing monistic or henotheistic speculations.^[101]

There was neither non-existence nor existence then;
Neither the realm of space, nor the sky which is beyond;
What stirred? Where? In whose protection?

There was neither death nor immortality then;
No distinguishing sign of night nor of day;
That One breathed, windless, by its own impulse;
Other than that there was nothing beyond.

Darkness there was at first, by darkness hidden;
Without distinctive marks, this all was water;
That which, becoming, by the void was covered;
That One by force of heat came into being;

Who really knows? Who will here proclaim it?
Whence was it produced? Whence is this creation?
Gods came afterwards, with the creation of this universe.
Who then knows whence it has arisen?

Whether God's will created it, or whether He was mute;
Perhaps it formed itself, or perhaps it did not;
Only He who is its overseer in highest heaven knows,

—Rigveda 10.129 (Abridged, Tr: Kramer / Christian)^[62] This hymn is one of the roots of Hindu philosophy.^[102]

A widely-cited example of such speculations is hymn 1.164.46:

They call him Indra, Mitra, Varuna, Agni, and he is heavenly nobly-winged Garutman.
To what is One, sages give many a title they call it Agni, Yama, Matarisvan.

Max Muller notably introduced the term 'henotheism' for the philosophy expressed here, avoiding the connotations of 'monotheism' in Judeo-Christian tradition.^[104][105] Other widely-cited examples of monistic tendencies include hymns 1.164, 8.36 and 10.31,^[106][107] Other scholars state that Rigveda includes an emerging diversity of thought, including monotheism, polytheism, henotheism and pantheism, the choice left to the preference of the worshipper.^[108] and the Nasadiya Sukta (10.129), one of the most widely cited Rigvedic hymns in popular western presentations.

Ruse (2015) commented on the old discussion of 'monotheism' vs. 'henotheism' vs. 'monism' by noting an 'atheistic streak' in hymns such as 10.130.^[109]

Examples from Mandala 1 adduced to illustrate the 'metaphysical' nature of the contents of the younger hymns include:1.164.34: 'What is the ultimate limit of the earth?', 'What is the center of the universe?', 'What is the semen of the cosmic horse?', 'What is the ultimate source of human speech?';1.164.34: 'Who gave blood, soul, spirit to the earth?', 'How could the unstructured universe give origin to this structured world?';1.164.5: 'Where does the sun hide in the night?', 'Where do gods live?';1.164.6: 'What, where is the unborn support for the born universe?';1.164.20 (a hymn that is widely cited in the Upanishads as the parable of the Body and the Soul): 'Two birds with fair wings, inseparable companions; Have found refuge in the same sheltering tree. One incessantly eats from the fig tree; the other, not eating, just looks on.'.^[7]

Translations

The first published translation of any portion of the Rigveda in any European language was into Latin, by Friedrich August Rosen (Rigvedae specimen, London 1830). Predating Müller'seditio princeps of the text by 19 years, Rosen was working from manuscripts brought back from India by Colebrooke. H. H. Wilson was the first to make a complete translation of the Rig Veda into English, published in six volumes during the period 1850–88.^[110] Wilson's version was based on the commentary of Sāyaṇa. Müller's Rig Veda Sanhita in 6 volumes Muller, Max, ed. (W. H. Allen and Co., London, 1849) has an English preface^[111] The birch bark from which Müller produced his translation is held at The Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Pune, India.^[112]

The Rigveda is the earliest, the most venerable, obscure, distant and difficult for moderns to understand – hence is often misinterpreted or worse: used as a peg on which to hang an idea or a theory.

Like all archaic texts, the Rigveda is difficult to translate into modern language,^[114][115] 'There are no closely contemporary extant texts, which makes it difficult to interpret.' ^[116]and early translations contained straightforward errors.^[84] Another issue is the choice of translation for technical terms such as mandala, conventionally translated 'book', but more literally rendered 'cycle'.^[84][117]

Some notable translations of the Rig Veda include:

See also

Notes

1. ^ It is certain that the hymns post-date Indo-Iranian separation of ca. 2000 BC and probably that of the relevant Mitanni documents of c. 1400 BC. The oldest available text is estimated to be from 1200 BC. Philological estimates tend to date the bulk of the text to the second half of the second millennium:
   • Max Müller: 'the hymns of the Rig-Veda are said to date from 1500 B.C.'^[14]
   • Thomas Oberlies (Die Religion des Rgveda, 1998, p. 158) based on 'cumulative evidence' sets a wide range of 1700–1100 BC.^[12] Oberlies (1998:155) gives an estimate of 1100 BC for the youngest hymns in book 10.^[15]
   • The EIEC (s.v. Indo-Iranian languages, p. 306) gives 1500–1000 BC.
   • Flood and Witzel both mention c. 1500–1200 BC.^[9][10]
   • Anthony mentions c. 1500–1300 BC.^[11]
   Some have used astronomical references in the Rigveda to date it to as early as 4000 BC,^[16] while Lok Tilak dates back it to 6000 BC.^[17]
2. ^Al-Biruni, an 11th-century Persian scholar who visited northwest India, credited a Brahmin by the name of Vasukra, in Kashmir writing down the Vedas in his memoirs.^[48] Modern scholarship states that the Vedas were codified and written down for the first time in the 1st millennium BC.^[49][50]
3. ^Compare Max Müller's statement 'the hymns of the Rig-Veda are said to date from 1500 BC'^[68]
4. ^Oberlies (1998:155) gives an estimate of 1100 BC for the youngest hymns in book 10. Estimates for a terminus post quem of the earliest hymns are far more uncertain. Oberlies (p. 158) based on 'cumulative evidence' sets wide range of 1700–1100. The Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture (s.v. Indo-Iranian languages, p. 306) gives 1500–1000 BC.

References

1. ^Derived from the root ṛc 'to praise', cf. Dhātupātha 28.19. Monier-Williams translates Rigveda as 'a Veda of Praise or Hymn-Veda'.
2. ^ ^abcdMichael Witzel (1997), The Development of the Vedic Canon and its Schools : The Social and Political Milieu, Harvard University, in Witzel 1997, pp. 259–264
3. ^Antonio de Nicholas (2003), Meditations Through the Rig Veda: Four-Dimensional Man, ISBN978-0595269259, p. 273
4. ^Werner, Karel (1994). A Popular Dictionary of Hinduism. Curzon Press. ISBN0-7007-1049-3.
5. ^ ^abStephanie Jamison and Joel Brereton (2014), The Rigveda : the earliest religious poetry of India, Oxford University Press, ISBN978-0199370184, pp. 4, 7–9
6. ^C Chatterjee (1995), Values in the Indian Ethos: An Overview, Journal of Human Values, Vol 1, No 1, pp. 3–12;
   Original text translated in English: The Rig Veda, Mandala 10, Hymn 117, Ralph T. H. Griffith (Translator);
7. ^ ^abAntonio de Nicholas (2003), Meditations Through the Rig Veda: Four-Dimensional Man, ISBN978-0595269259, pp. 64–69Jan Gonda, A History of Indian Literature: Veda and Upanishads, Volume 1, Part 1, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, ISBN978-3447016032, pp. 134–135.
8. ^p. 126, History of British Folklore, Richard Mercer Dorson, 1999, ISBN9780415204774
9. ^ ^abcFlood 1996, p. 37.
10. ^ ^abcWitzel 1995, p. 4.
11. ^ ^abcAnthony 2007, p. 454.
12. ^ ^abOberlies 1998 p. 158
13. ^Lucas F. Johnston, Whitney Bauman (2014). Science and Religion: One Planet, Many Possibilities. Routledge. p. 179.
14. ^Max Müller (1892). ('Veda and Vedanta'), 7th lecture in India: What Can It Teach Us: A Course of Lectures Delivered Before the University of Cambridge.
15. ^Oberlies 1998 p. 155
16. ^1998 presentation
17. ^Indus Civilization. Discovery Publishing House. 2004. ISBN9788171418657.
18. ^Klaus Klostermaier (1984). Mythologies and Philosophies of Salvation in the Theistic Traditions of India. Wilfrid Laurier University Press. p. 6. ISBN978-0-88920-158-3.
19. ^Lester Kurtz (2015), Gods in the Global Village, SAGE Publications, ISBN978-1483374123, p. 64, Quote: 'The 1,028 hymns of the Rigveda are recited at initiations, weddings and funerals....'
20. ^George Erdosy 1995, pp. 68–69.
21. ^'The Rigveda is not a book, but a library and a literature.' Arnold, Edward Vernon (2009), Vedic Metre in its historical development, Cambridge University Press (Original Pub: 1905), ISBN978-1113224446, p. ix
22. ^Barbara A. Holdrege (2012). Veda and Torah: Transcending the Textuality of Scripture. State University of New York Press. pp. 229–230. ISBN978-1-4384-0695-4.
23. ^ ^abcdPincott, Frederic (1887). 'The First Maṇḍala of the Ṛig-Veda'. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. 19 (4): 598–624. doi:10.1017/s0035869x00019717.Stephanie W. Jamison; Joel P. Brereton (2014). The Rigveda. Oxford University Press. pp. 10–11. ISBN978-0-19-937018-4.
24. ^George Erdosy 1995, pp. 68–69, 180-189.
25. ^Gregory Possehl & Michael Witzel 2002, pp. 391–393.
26. ^Bryant 2001, pp. 66–67.
27. ^Kireet Joshi (1991). The Veda and Indian Culture: An Introductory Essay. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 101–102. ISBN978-81-208-0889-8.
28. ^A history of Sanskrit Literature, Arthur MacDonell, Oxford University Press/Appleton & Co, p. 56
29. ^Stephanie W. Jamison; Joel P. Brereton (2014). The Rigveda. Oxford University Press. p. 74. ISBN978-0-19-937018-4.
30. ^In a few cases, more than one rishi is given, signifying lack of certainty.
31. ^Talageri (2000), p. 33
32. ^B. van Nooten and G. Holland, Rig Veda. A metrically restored text. Cambridge: Harvard Oriental Series 1994
33. ^H. Oldenberg, Prolegomena,1888, Engl. transl. New Delhi: Motilal 2004
34. ^K. Meenakshi (2002). 'Making of Pāṇini'. In George Cardona, Madhav Deshpande, Peter Edwin Hook (eds.). Indian Linguistic Studies: Festschrift in Honor of George Cardona. Motilal Banarsidass. p. 235. ISBN978-81-208-1885-9.CS1 maint: Uses editors parameter (link)
35. ^Witzel, Michael (2003). 'Vedas and Upanisads'. In Flood, Gavin (ed.). The Blackwell Companion to Hinduism. Blackwell Publishing Ltd. pp. 68–69. ISBN978-0631215356. The Vedic texts were orally composed and transmitted, without the use of script, in an unbroken line of transmission from teacher to student that was formalized early on. This ensured an impeccable textual transmission superior to the classical texts of other cultures; it is, in fact, something like a tape-recording of ca. 1500–500 BC. Not just the actual words, but even the long-lost musical (tonal) accent (as in old Greek or in Japanese) has been preserved up to the present. On the other hand, the Vedas have been written down only during the early second millennium ce,...
36. ^The oldest manuscript in the Pune collection dates to the 15th century. The Benares Sanskrit University has a Rigveda manuscript of the 14th century. Earlier manuscripts are extremely rare; the oldest known manuscript preserving a Vedic text was written in the 11th century in Nepal (catalogued by the Nepal-German Manuscript Preservation Project, Hamburg.
37. ^Keith, Arthur Berriedale (1920). Rigveda Brahmanas: the Aitareya and Kauṣītaki Brāhmaṇas of the Rigveda. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. p. 44.
38. ^Michael Witzel says that 'The RV has been transmitted in one recension (the śākhā of Śākalya) while others (such as the Bāṣkala text) have been lost or are only rumored about so far.' Michael Witzel, p. 69, 'Vedas and Upaniṣads', in: The Blackwell Companion to Hinduism, Gavin Flood (ed.), Blackwell Publishing Ltd., 2005.
39. ^Maurice Winternitz (History of Sanskrit Literature, Revised English Translation Edition, 1926, vol. 1, p. 57) says that 'Of the different recensions of this Saṃhitā, which once existed, only a single one has come down to us.' He adds in a note (p. 57, note 1) that this refers to the 'recension of the Śākalaka-School.'
40. ^Sures Chandra Banerji (A Companion To Sanskrit Literature, Second Edition, 1989, Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, pp. 300–301) says that 'Of the 21 recensions of this Veda, that were known at one time, we have got only two, viz. Śākala and Vāṣkala.'
41. ^Maurice Winternitz (History of Sanskrit Literature, Revised English Translation Edition, 1926, vol. 1, p. 283.
42. ^Mantras of 'khila' hymns were called khailika and not ṛcas (Khila meant distinct 'part' of Rgveda separate from regular hymns; all regular hymns make up the akhila or 'the whole' recognised in a śākhā, although khila hymns have sanctified roles in rituals from ancient times).
43. ^Hermann Grassmann had numbered the hymns 1 through to 1028, putting the vālakhilya at the end. Griffith's translation has these 11 at the end of the eighth mandala, after 8.92 in the regular series.
44. ^cf. Preface to Khila section by C.G.Kāshikar in Volume-5 of Pune Edition of RV (in references).
45. ^These Khilani hymns have also been found in a manuscript of the Śākala recension of the Kashmir Rigveda (and are included in the Poone edition).
46. ^equalling 40 times 10,800, the number of bricks used for the uttaravedi: the number is motivated numerologically rather than based on an actual syllable count.
47. ^Stephanie W. Jamison & Joel P. Brereton 2014, p. 16.
48. ^Sachau, Edward (Translator). 'Alberuni's India. An account of the religion, philosophy, literature, geography, chronology, astronomy, customs, laws and astrology of India about AD 1030'. archive.org. Kegan, Paul, Trench and Trubner Co. Ltd. p. 126. Retrieved 30 March 2016.
49. ^Barbara A. West (2010). Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Asia and Oceania. Infobase. p. 282. ISBN978-1-4381-1913-7.
50. ^Michael McDowell; Nathan Robert Brown (2009). World Religions At Your Fingertips. Penguin. p. 208. ISBN978-1-101-01469-1.
51. ^Stephanie Jamison and Joel Brereton (2014), The Rigveda : the earliest religious poetry of India, Oxford University Press, ISBN978-0199370184, pp. 13–14
52. ^'Rigveda'. UNESCOMemory of the World Programme. Archived from the original on 17 January 2014.
53. ^'Rig Veda in UNESCO's 'Memory of the World' Register'. Hinduism.about.com. Retrieved 10 March 2017.
54. ^cf. Editorial notes in various volumes of Pune Edition, see references.
55. ^Avari 2007, p. 77.
56. ^ ^abcdeJames Hastings, Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics at Google Books, Vol. 7, Harvard Divinity School, TT Clark, pp. 51–56
57. ^ ^abAntonio de Nicholas (2003), Meditations Through the Rig Veda: Four-Dimensional Man, ISBN978-0595269259, pp. 273–274
58. ^Edmund Gosse, Short histories of the literatures of the world, p. 181, at Google Books, New York: Appleton, p. 181
59. ^Robert Hume, Mundaka Upanishad, Thirteen Principal Upanishads, Oxford University Press, pp. 374–375
60. ^Max Muller, The Upanishads, Part 2, Mundaka Upanishad, Oxford University Press, pp. 38–40
61. ^ ^abcdefgStephanie Jamison and Joel Brereton (2014), The Rigveda : the earliest religious poetry of India, Oxford University Press, ISBN978-0199370184, pp. 57–59
62. ^ ^ab
    • Original Sanskrit: Rigveda 10.129 Wikisource;
    • Translation 1: Max Muller (1859). A History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature. Williams and Norgate, London. pp. 559–565.
    • Translation 2: Kenneth Kramer (1986). World Scriptures: An Introduction to Comparative Religions. Paulist Press. p. 21. ISBN978-0-8091-2781-8.
    • Translation 3: David Christian (2011). Maps of Time: An Introduction to Big History. University of California Press. pp. 17–18. ISBN978-0-520-95067-2.
    • Translation 4: Robert N. Bellah (2011). Religion in Human Evolution. Harvard University Press. pp. 510–511. ISBN978-0-674-06309-9.
63. ^Edited, with an English translation, by M. Haug (2 vols., Bombay, 1863). An edition in Roman transliteration, with extracts from the commentary, has been published by Th. Aufrecht (Bonn, 1879).
64. ^Paul Deussen, Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Volume 1, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN978-8120814684, pp. 7–14
65. ^Paul Deussen, Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Volume 1, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN978-8120814684, pp. 21–23
66. ^ ^abc'Speak for itself'(PDF). Rigveda.co.uk. Retrieved 10 March 2017.
67. ^ ^abStephanie Jamison and Joel Brereton (2014), The Rigveda : the earliest religious poetry of India, Oxford University Press, ISBN978-0199370184, p. 5
68. ^('Veda and Vedanta', 7th lecture in India: What Can It Teach Us: A Course of Lectures Delivered Before the University of Cambridge, World Treasures of the Library of Congress Beginnings by Irene U. Chambers, Michael S. Roth.
69. ^Mallory 1989.
70. ^'As a possible date ad quem for the RV one usually adduces the Hittite-Mitanni agreement of the middle of the 14th cent. B.C. which mentions four of the major Rgvedic gods: mitra, varuNa, indra and the nAsatya azvin)' M. Witzel, Early Sanskritization – Origin and development of the Kuru stateArchived 5 November 2011 at the Wayback Machine.
71. ^The Vedic People: Their History and Geography, Rajesh Kochar, 2000, Orient Longman, ISBN81-250-1384-9
72. ^Rigveda and River Saraswati: class.uidaho.edu
73. ^Oldenberg 1894 (tr. Shrotri), p. 14 'The Vedic diction has a great number of favourite expressions which are common with the Avestic, though not with later Indian diction. In addition, there is a close resemblance between them in metrical form, in fact, in their overall poetic character. If it is noticed that whole Avesta verses can be easily translated into the Vedic alone by virtue of comparative phonetics, then this may often give, not only correct Vedic words and phrases, but also the verses, out of which the soul of Vedic poetry appears to speak.'
74. ^Bryant 2001:130–131 'The oldest part of the Avesta... is linguistically and culturally very close to the material preserved in the Rigveda... There seems to be economic and religious interaction and perhaps rivalry operating here, which justifies scholars in placing the Vedic and Avestan worlds in close chronological, geographical and cultural proximity to each other not far removed from a joint Indo-Iranian period.'
75. ^Mallory 1989 p. 36 'Probably the least-contested observation concerning the various Indo-European dialects is that those languages grouped together as Indic and Iranian show such remarkable similarities with one another that we can confidently posit a period of Indo-Iranian unity...'
76. ^Mallory 1989 'The identification of the Andronovo culture as Indo-Iranian is commonly accepted by scholars.'
77. ^ ^abStephanie Jamison and Joel Brereton (2014), The Rigveda : the earliest religious poetry of India, Oxford University Press, ISBN978-0199370184, pp. 6–7
78. ^Michael Witzel (1996), Little Dowry, No Sati: The Lot of Women in the Vedic Period, Journal of South Asia Women Studies, Vol 2, No 4
79. ^Stephanie Jamison and Joel Brereton (2014), The Rigveda : the earliest religious poetry of India, Oxford University Press, ISBN978-0199370184, pp. 40, 180, 1150, 1162
80. ^Chakrabarti, D.K. The Early Use of Iron in India (1992) Oxford University Press argues that it may refer to any metal. If ayas refers to iron, the Rigveda must date to the late second millennium at the earliest.
81. ^Stephanie Jamison and Joel Brereton (2014), The Rigveda : the earliest religious poetry of India, Oxford University Press, ISBN978-0199370184, p. 744
82. ^Stephanie Jamison and Joel Brereton (2014), The Rigveda : the earliest religious poetry of India, Oxford University Press, ISBN978-0199370184, pp. 50–57
83. ^among others, Macdonell and Keith, and Talageri 2000, Lal 2005
84. ^ ^abcdeFrits Staal (2009), Discovering the Vedas: Origins, Mantras, Rituals, Insights, Penguin, ISBN978-0143099864, pp. xv–xvi
85. ^D Sharma (2011), Classical Indian Philosophy: A Reader, Columbia University Press, ISBN978-0231133999, pp. 196–197
86. ^Jan Westerhoff (2009), Nagarjuna's Madhyamaka: A Philosophical Introduction, Oxford University Press, ISBN978-0195384963, p. 290
87. ^Frederick M. Smith, 'Purāņaveda,' in Laurie L. Patton (ed.), Authority, Anxiety, and Canon: Essays in Vedic Interpretation, SUNY Press 1994 p. 99.Arthur Llewellyn Basham, Kenneth G. Zysk, The Origins and Development of Classical Hinduism , Oxford University Press, 1989 p. 7, Ram Gopal, The History and Principles of Vedic Interpretation, Concept Publishing Company, 1983 ch.2 pp. 7–20
88. ^Mystic Approach to the Veda and the Upanishad by Madhav Pundalik Pandit (1974), p. 4, ISBN9780940985483
89. ^Thomas McEvilley (2012), The Shape of Ancient Thought: Comparative Studies in Greek and Indian Philosophies, ISBN9781581159332, pp. 154–155
90. ^edited in 8 volumes by Vishva Bandhu, 1963–1966.
91. ^Salmond, Noel A. (2004). 'Dayananda Saraswati'. Hindu iconoclasts: Rammohun Roy, Dayananda Sarasvati and Nineteenth-Century Polemics Against Idolatry. Wilfrid Laurier University Press. pp. 114–115. ISBN978-0-88920-419-5.
92. ^ ^abcThe Political Philosophy of Sri Aurobindo by V. P. Varma (1960), Motilal Banarsidass, p. 139, ISBN9788120806863
93. ^N Singh (1992), The Vivaha (Marriage) Samskara as a Paradigm for Religio-cultural Integration in Hinduism, Journal for the Study of Religion, Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 31–40
94. ^Swami Vivekananda (2005). Prabuddha Bharata: Or Awakened India. Prabuddha Bharata Press. pp. 362, 594.
95. ^ ^abcdAndrea Pinkney (2014), Routledge Handbook of Religions in Asia (Editors: Bryan Turner and Oscar Salemink), Routledge, ISBN978-0415635035, pp. 31–32
96. ^Jeffrey Haines (2008), Routledge Handbook of Religion and Politics, Routledge, ISBN978-0415600293, p. 80
97. ^N. Kazanas (2002), Indigenous Indo-Aryans and the Rigveda, Journal of Indo-European Studies, Vol. 30, pp. 275–289;
    N. Kazanas (2000), ‘A new date for the Rgveda’, in G. C. Pande (Ed) Chronology and Indian Philosophy, special issue of the JICPR, Delhi;
    N. D. Kazanas (2001), Indo-European Deities and the Rgveda, Journal of Indo-European Studies, Vol. 30, pp. 257–264,
    ND Kazanas (2003), Final Reply, Journal of Indo-European Studies, Vol. 31, pp. 187–189
98. ^Edwin Bryant (2004), The Quest for the Origins of the Vedic Culture, Oxford University Press, ISBN978-0195169478
99. ^Agrawal, D. P. (2002). Comments on “Indigenous IndoAryans”. Journal of Indo-European Studies, Vol. 30, pp. 129–135;
    A. Parpola (2002), ‘Comments on “Indigenous Indo-Aryans”’, Journal of Indo-European Studies, Vol. 30, pp. 187–191
100. ^Michael Witzel, The Pleiades and the Bears viewed from inside the Vedic texts, EVJS Vol. 5 (1999), issue 2 (December);
     Elst, Koenraad (1999). Update on the Aryan Invasion Debate. Aditya Prakashan. ISBN978-81-86471-77-7.;
     Bryant, Edwin and Laurie L. Patton (2005) The Indo-Aryan Controversy, Routledge/Curzon, ISBN978-0700714636
101. ^ ^absee e.g. Jeaneane D. Fowler (2002), Perspectives of Reality: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Hinduism, Sussex University Press, ISBN978-1898723936, pp. 38–45
102. ^GJ Larson, RS Bhattacharya and K Potter (2014), The Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies, Volume 4, Princeton University Press, ISBN978-0691604411, pp. 5–6, 109–110, 180
103. ^'The Rig Veda/Mandala 1/Hymn 164 - Wikisource, the free online library'. En.wikisource.org. 14 April 2012. Retrieved 10 March 2017.
104. ^ ^abStephen Phillips (2009), Yoga, Karma, and Rebirth: A Brief History and Philosophy, Columbia University Press, ISBN978-0231144858, p. 401
105. ^Garry Trompf (2005), In Search of Origins, 2nd Edition, Sterling, ISBN978-1932705515, pp. 60–61
106. ^Thomas Paul Urumpackal (1972), Organized Religion According to Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, Georgian University Press, ISBN978-8876521553, pp. 229–232 with footnote 133
107. ^Franklin Edgerton (1996), The Bhagavad Gita, Cambridge University Press, Reprinted by Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN978-8120811492, pp. 11–12
108. ^Elizabeth Reed (2001), Hindu Literature: Or the Ancient Books of India, Simon Publishers, ISBN978-1931541039, pp. 16–19
109. ^a 'strong traditional streak that (by Western standards) would undoubtedly be thought atheistic'; hymn 10.130 can be read to be in 'an atheistic spirit'. Michael Ruse (2015), Atheism, Oxford University Press, ISBN978-0199334582, p. 185.
110. ^Wilson, H. H. Ṛig-Veda-Sanhitā: A Collection of Ancient Hindu Hymns. 6 vols. (London, 1850–88); reprint: Cosmo Publications (1977)
111. ^'Rig - Veda - Sanhita - Vol.1'. Dspace.wbpublibnet.gov.in:8080. 21 March 2006. Retrieved 10 March 2017.
112. ^'The Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute : The Manuscript Department'. Bori.ac.in. Retrieved 10 March 2017.
113. ^Frits Staal (2009), Discovering the Vedas: Origins, Mantras, Rituals, Insights, Penguin, ISBN978-0143099864, p. 107
114. ^John J. Lowe (2015). Participles in Rigvedic Sanskrit: The Syntax and Semantics of Adjectival Verb Forms. Oxford University Press. p. 329. ISBN978-0-19-870136-1.
115. ^Stephanie W. Jamison & Joel P. Brereton 2014, pp. 3, 76.
116. ^Stephanie W. Jamison & Joel P. Brereton 2014, p. 3.
117. ^A. A. MacDonnel (2000 print edition), India's Past: A Survey of Her Literatures, Religions, Languages and Antiquities, Asian Educational Services, ISBN978-8120605701, p. 15
118. ^Stephanie W. Jamison & Joel P. Brereton 2014, pp. 19–20.
119. ^neh.gov, retrieved 22 March 2007.

Bibliography

Editions

• Stephanie W. Jamison; Joel P. Brereton (2014). The Rigveda. Oxford University Press. ISBN978-0-19-937018-4.
• editio princeps: Friedrich Max Müller, The Hymns of the Rigveda, with Sayana's commentary, London, 1849–75, 6 vols., 2nd ed. 4 vols., Oxford, 1890–92.
• Theodor Aufrecht, 2nd ed., Bonn, 1877.
• Sontakke, N. S. (1933). Rgveda-Samhitā: Śrimat-Sāyanāchārya virachita-bhāṣya-sametā. Sāyanachārya (commentary) (First ed.). Vaidika Samśodhana Maṇḍala.. The Editorial Board for the First Edition included N. S. Sontakke (Managing Editor), V. K. Rājvade, M. M. Vāsudevaśāstri, and T. S. Varadarājaśarmā.
• B. van Nooten und G. Holland, Rig Veda, a metrically restored text, Department of Sanskrit and Indian Studies, Harvard University, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts and London, England, 1994.
• Rgveda-Samhita, Text in Devanagari, English translation Notes and indices by H. H. Wilson, Ed. W. F. Webster, originally in 1888, Published Nag Publishers 1990, 11A/U.A. Jawaharnagar,Delhi-7.

Commentary

• Sayana (14th century)
  • ed. Müller 1849–75 (German translation);
  • ed. Müller (original commentary of Sāyana in Sanskrit based on 24 manuscripts).
  • ed. Sontakke et al., published by Vaidika Samsodhana Mandala, Pune (2nd ed. 1972) in 5 volumes.
• Rgveda-Samhitā Srimat-sāyanāchārya virachita-bhāṣya-sametā, ed. by Sontakke et al., published by Vaidika Samśodhana Mandala, Pune-9, 1972, in 5 volumes (It is original commentary of Sāyana in Sanskrit based on over 60 manuscripts).
• Sri Aurobindo, Hymns to the Mystic Fire (Commentary on the Rig Veda), Lotus Press, Twin Lakes, Wisconsin ISBN0-914955-22-5[1]
• Raimundo Pannikar (1972), The Vedic Experience, University of California Press

Philology

• Vashishtha Narayan Jha, A Linguistic Analysis of the Rgveda-Padapatha Sri Satguru Publications, Delhi (1992).
• Bjorn Merker, Rig Veda Riddles In Nomad Perspective, Mongolian Studies, Journal of the Mongolian Society XI, 1988.
• Thomas Oberlies, Die Religion des Rgveda, Wien 1998.
• Oldenberg, Hermann (1894). Hymnen des Rigveda. 1. Teil: Metrische und textgeschichtliche Prolegomena. Berlin 1888. (please add), Wiesbaden 1982.
• —Die Religion des Veda. Berlin 1894; Stuttgart 1917; Stuttgart 1927; Darmstadt 1977
• —Vedic Hymns, The Sacred Books of the East Vol l. 46 ed. Friedrich Max Müller, Oxford 1897
• Adolf Kaegi, The Rigveda: The Oldest Literature of the Indians (trans. R. Arrowsmith), Boston, Ginn and Co. (1886), 2004 reprint: ISBN978-1-4179-8205-9.
• Mallory, J. P.; et al. (1989). 'Indo-Iranian Languages in Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture'. Fitzroy Dearborn (published 1997).

Historical

• Anthony, David W. (2007), The Horse The Wheel And Language. How Bronze-Age Riders From the Eurasian Steppes Shaped The Modern World, Princeton University Press
• Avari, Burjor (2007), India: The Ancient Past, London: Routledge, ISBN978-0-415-35616-9
• Bryant, Edwin (2001). The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture: The Indo-Aryan Migration Debate. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN978-0-19-513777-4.
• Flood, Gavin D. (1996), An Introduction to Hinduism, Cambridge University Press
• George Erdosy (1995). The Indo-Aryans of Ancient South Asia: Language, Material Culture and Ethnicity. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN978-3-11-014447-5.
• Gregory Possehl; Michael Witzel (2002). 'Vedic'. In Peter N. Peregrine; Melvin Ember (eds.). Encyclopedia of Prehistory. Springer. ISBN978-1-4684-7135-9.
• Lal, B.B. 2005. The Homeland of the Aryans. Evidence of Rigvedic Flora and Fauna & Archaeology, New Delhi, Aryan Books International.
• Talageri, Shrikant: The Rigveda: A Historical Analysis, 2000. ISBN81-7742-010-0
• Witzel, Michael (1995), 'Early Sanskritization: Origin and Development of the Kuru state'(PDF), EJVS, 1 (4), archived from the original(PDF) on 20 February 2012
• Witzel, Michael (ed.) (1997), Inside the Texts, Beyond the Texts. New Approaches to the Study of the Vedas, Harvard Oriental Series, Opera Minora vol. 2, Cambridge: Harvard University PressCS1 maint: Extra text: authors list (link)

External links

Text

For links to translations, see Translations section above.

• Devanagari and transliteration experimental online text at: sacred-texts.com
• ITRANS, Devanagari, transliteration online text and PDF, several versions prepared by Detlef Eichler
• Transliteration, metrically restored online text, at: Linguistics Research Center, Univ. of Texas
• The Hymns of the Rigveda, Editio Princeps by Friedrich Max Müller (large PDF files of book scans). Two editions: London, 1877 (Samhita and Pada texts) and Oxford, 1890–92, with Sayana's commentary.
• Works by or about Rigveda at Internet Archive

Dictionary

• Rigvedic Dictionary by Hermann Grassmann (online database, uni-koeln.de)