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315 matists of the Hindus, that they acknowledged a cer- tain difference between the Brilhmanas and Aran- yakas, although it was of great importance to them, particularly in their orthodox philosophy, to be able to appeal to passages from the Aranyakas as in^ vested with a sacred authority. The most important Upanishads, which are full of philosophy and theo- sophy, form part of the Aranyakas, and particularly in later times the Aranyaka was considered the quint- essence of the Vedas.^ Nevertheless it is acknow- ledged by Indian authors^ that a mistake may be made, and the work of a human author may be er- roneously received as a part of the sacred book by those who are unacquainted with its true origin. An instance, they say, occurs among those who use the Bahvrich, a &£Lkb& of the Rig-veda, by whom a ritual of Aivalllyana has been admitted, under the title of the fifth Aranyaka, as a part of the Rig-veda. That the Aranyakas presuppose the existence of the Br&hmanas may be clearly seen from the Bri- had&ranyaka, of which we possess now a complete edition by Dr. Roer, of Calcutta, together with two 1 Mahabbarata i. 258.: '< Tbis body of tbe Mababbarata (tbe index) is trotb and immortalitj ; it is like new butter from curds, like tbe Brabman among men, like tbe Aranjaka from tbe Vedas, like nectar from medicinal plants, like tbe sea, tbe best among lakes, like tbe cow, tbe bigbest among animals." Tbus tbe Upanisbad is called tbe essence of tbe Veda; datap.-brabm. x. 3. 6. 12. era ^ iprer ^r^pft tt ii4lMpiN<i^i ^ Tbis is taken from Colebrooke's extracts from the F^rva- mim&nsE; a system of pbilosopby of wbicb it would be most desirable to have a complete edition. (Miscellaneons Essays, i. 307.) Dr. Goldstiicker, of Konigsberg, bas collected large ma- terials for such a work ; and I trust he will shortly find an op- portunity of publishing the important results of his studies. UP^XTISBADS. ny& QXi^exiQB. If we take for instance "l^rit ^^^''^■0^. "^^^ promised a large prize to G,gS>^ of J*^* XX **■ ^^^ sacrifice, and compare 1 gto^5^ ^ Brab^ given in. tlie Satapatha-br&hmana ( ^&^^ aa it *^ tbi^^ Adliyfi,ya of the Brihad&rauyt fX.o'f^l -^itb *''' gub3ect; occurs, we find in the Ar 4. ^''^ tbe s**'^ tftils given almost in the same wo \f)ci^ ^l the ^ftiia, but enlarged with so many ad •ya.^* ^^je Bvft'^ j.jy with respect to the philosophi .& ^** pftif*^*^'* ljicl take place between Yajnavalfe tiotJ^'^^^ions "^^^Vimans, that we cannot hesitate foi di^P , g othef -Aef *be Aranyaka as an enlargeme tfxo^ ^^ 3^^ Je&t which the Aranyakas possess P^g cbief i^** ^e^t consists in their philosoph ^ggcnt ^^ 1 chapters well known under tl ^^ ^-A^ilosopbi jg are almost the only portion T^^® /oC "tJP*^ ^^bi<^^ is extensively read to this da ^*'''^. ^iteT**'^*® ^e supposed to contain, the high* ^t xr coO***°' ^- \i the various systems of philosopl ?ority 00 '^'^^*^^ot only the Vedinta phUosoph ^^^V^ia rest, ^^^e, professes his faith in the er V . .V . X\ \Z\>S ^^* ^fl Veda,^ but the S&nkhya, the Vai \W\ W A o\)W °^* Ind Yoga philosophers, all prete *v-vl the :Sy^y5 ^^i^hads some warranty for th ! tod i *^^ ^n^go^^*i<^ ^ ^^^'^'^ ^*^^°S- '^ ots ho^e^®^ f oumerous sects that have exisi ^^eV^2^;°i^tndi. Theirfounders,iftheyhc i\V\ \Wl iV *^* * ^ ;. v,t not yet in ita technical sense, Taittiri \V\m \ I , Ved&a** i '"^'^etae frequently repeated elsewhere. k J veu"—-- „ . - •verse"--*- - ;^ ___^ tJPANISHADS. 317 any pretensions to orthodoxy, invariably appeal to some passage in the Upanishads in order to substan- tiate their own reasonings. Now it is true that in the Upanishads themselves there is so much freedom and breadth of thought that it is not difficult to find in them some authority for almost any shade of phi- losophical opinion. The old Upanishads did not pre- tend to give more than ^'guesses at truth/' and when, in course of time, they became invested with an inspired character, they aUowed great latitude to those who professed to believe in them as revelation* Yet this was not sufficient for the rank growth of philosophical doctrines during the latter ages of In- dian history; and when none of the ancient Upa- nishads could be found to suit the purpose, the founders of new sects had no scruple and no diffi- culty in composing new Upanishads of their own. This accounts for the large and ever growing number of these treatises. Every new collection of MSS., every new list of Upanishads given by native writers, adds to the number of those which were known be* fore; and the most modern compilations seem now to enjoy the same authority as the really genuine treatises. The original Upanishads had their place in the Aranyakas and 6r&hmanas. There is only one in- stance of a Sanhitft containing Upanishads — the y^jasaneyi-sanhitft, which comprises the l6a-upa- nishad, forming the 40th book, and the Sivasankalpa, forming part of the 34th book. This, however, so far from proving the greater antiquity of that Upa- nishad, only serves to confirm the modern date of the whole collection known under the name of Yftjasa- 'I' leotherof the four VS nishad had been forgotten i!^?'"? o<* the wo^ rr 5nal signification of the Mrord ? **'°"-'" Tieori listen, or in order to ^^ditate aT^^^ order Z we find t^p + ^arf "^^^ in the ^J^ ^°f% Thus worshipping : of sitting and him with praise." ^ ^'^^ta, "Approach Rv. X. 73. 11.— VAya^ 8upar„. , dram priyAmedhah rwhayah nio^ ^^ ^^u*" J'n- poets with good thoughts h^^^ °';a&nAh, Xhe begging, like birds with beautifm yZT^^'^ ^""^^ The root ds, which has the same to sit, if joined with the preposition'^r^''^^ ^ ^""^y the same idea as upa sad, i, g^ ^^ P<^> expresses fully, to worship (Rv. x. 153, j x PP^^oach respect- used to express the position which th ** .^^^uentljr ® pupil occupies 1 Mahidhara maintains that some paptg ^f aimed at the Buddhists, who denied the existe' * '^'"""*'"d were Self, called life a water bubble, and knowledpo""* °^"' '"'elligent Colebrooke, Essajs, i. 92. ^' *"ication. UFAKISHADS. 319 when listening to his teacher,^ and it clearly expresses a position of inferiority in such passages as, 6at.- br&hmana, i. 3. 4. 15 : ^^tasm&d uparyftsduam ksha- triyam adhastiLd im&h praj& up&sate/' ^Uherefore those people below (the Vi6 or Vai6yas) sit under, or pay respect to the Eshatriya who sits above." Still more decisive is another passage in the same work (ix. 4. 3. 3), where upanishddin is used in the sense of subject : " kshatr&ya tad vi6am adhast&d upanishft- dinim karoti/' ^^ he thus makes the Yifi below subject to the Kshatriya." There can be little doubt there- fore that Upanishad meant originally the act of sitting down near a teacher,^ of submissively listening to him ; and it is easy to trace the steps by which it came to mean implicit faith,^ and, at last, truth or divine revelation. The songs of the Veda contained but little of philosophy or theosophy, and ^hat the Brahmans call the higher knowledge is not to be sought for in the hymns of the Bishis. " What,"* says the author of the 6vet&&vatara-upanishad, ^^what shall a man do with the hymns, who does not know that eternal word of the hymns in the highest heaven, that in which all the gods are absorbed ? Those who know it, they are blessed." The same sentiment is fre- 1 Fan. iii. 4. 72. comment. : Upasito gnrum bhavan ; and upa- 81 to gurur bhavatfl. ' In this sense Upanishad is frequentlj used in the plural, and signifies sessions. 'ChhftndogTa-npanishad, i. 1.9. M^4 Pif|€|| 4k^pt ^^<nMfi>q<l rfi[W Jl4lTl<l "What a man performs with knowledge, trust, and faith, that is effectuaL" ^ SyetadTatara-upanishad, ed. Roer, Bibliotheca Indica, yii. 339. 320 UFANI8HADS* quently expressed, but nowhere with greater force than in a passage of the Eatha-upanishad^, a passage most remarkable in many respects. ^'That divine Self," the poet says, " is not to be grasped by tra- dition^, nor by understanding, nor by all revelation ; by him whom He himself chooses, by him alone is He to be grasped ; that Self chooses his body as his own*" Rammohun Roy when he visited the British Museum and found the late Dr. Rosen engaged in preparing an edition of the hymns of the Veda, ex- pressed his surprise at so useless an undertaking.