History of Sanskrit Literature -7 (BY ARTHUR A. MACDONELL

History of Sanskrit Literature

(BY

ARTHUR A. MACDONELL, M. A., Ph.D.

BODEN PROFESSOR OF SANSKRIT)

ATHARVA-VEDA 199

O dice, give play that profit brings,

Like cows that yield abundant milk :

Attach me to a streak ofgain,

As with a string the bow is bound (vii. 5, 9).

A certain number of hymns contain charms to secure

harmony, to allay anger, strife, and discord, or to procure

ascendency in the assembly. The following one is

intended for the latter purpose :

O assembly, we know thy name,

" Frolic" 1

truly by name thou art :

May all who meet and sit in thee

Be in their speech at one with me (vii. 1 2, 2).

A few hymns consist of formulas for the expiation

of sins, such as offering imperfect sacrifices and marrying

before an elder brother, or contain charms for removing

the defilement caused by ominous birds, and for

banishing evil dreams.

If waking, if asleep, I have

Committed sin, to sin inclined,

May what has been and what shall be

Loose me asfrom a wooden post (vi. 115, 2).

A short hymn (vi. 120), praying for the remission of

sins, concludes with this stanza : ,

In heaven, where our righteousfriends are blessed,

Having cast off diseasesfrom their bodies,

From lamenessfree and not defotmed in mernbers,

There may we see our parents and our children.

Another group of hymns has the person of the king

as its centre. They contain charms to be used at a

royal election or consecration, for the restoration of an

1 The word "frolic

"

alludes to the assembly-house (sab/id) being a place

of social entertainment, especially of gambling.

14

200 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

exiled king, for the attainment of lustre and glory, and

in particular for victory in battle. The following is a

specimen of spells intended to strike terror into the

enemy :

Arise and arm, ye spectralforms,

Followed by meteoricflames;

Ye serpents, spirits of the deep,

Demons of night, pursue thefoe / (xi. 10, i).

Here is a stanza from a hymn (v. 21, 6) to the battledrum

meant to serve the same purpose :

As birds start back affrighted at the eagle's cry,

As day and night they tre7nble at the lion7s roar:

So thou, drum, shout out against our enemies,

Scare them away in terror and confound their minds.

Among the cosmogonic and theosophic hymns the

finest is a long one of sixty-three stanzas addressed to

the earth (xii. 1). I translate a few lines to give some

idea of its style and contents :

The earth, on whom, with clamour loud,

Men that are mortal sing and dance,

On whom theyfight in battlefierce :

This earth shall drive awayfrom us ourfoemen,

And she shall make usfreefroni all our rivals.

In secret places holding treasure manifold,

The earth shall riches give, andgems andgold to me ;

Gra?iting wealth lavishly, the kindly goddess

Shall goods abundantly bestow upon us.

The four hymns of Book XIII. are devoted to the

praise of Rohita, the " Red "

Sun, as a cosmogonic

powrer. In another (xi. 5) the sun is glorified as a

primeval principle under the guise of a Brahman disciple

(brahtnachdriri). Hn others Prana or Breath (xi. 4),

Kama or Love (ix. 2), and Kala or Time (xix. 53-54),

ATHARVA-VEDA 201

are personified as primordial powersV There is one hymn

(xi. 7) in which even Ucchishta -(the remnant of the

sacrifice) is deified as the Supreme Being ; except for

its metrical form it belongs to the Brahmana type of

literature.

In concluding this survey of the Atharva-veday I

would draw attention to a hymn to Varuna (iv. 16),

which, though its last two stanzas are ordinary Atharvan

spells for binding enemies with the fetters of that deity,

in its remaining verses exalts divine omniscience in a

strain unequalled in any other Vedic poem. The following

three stanzas are perhaps the best :

This earth is all King Varuna's dominion,

And that broad sky whose boundaries are distant.

The loins of Varuna are these two oceans,

Yet in this drop of water he is hidden.

He that shouldflee afar beyond the heaven

Would not escape. King Varuna's attention :

His spies come hither,from the sky descending,

With all their thousand eyes the earth surveying.

King Varuna discerns all that's existent

Between the earth and sky, and all beyond them;

The winkings of'men's eyes by him are countedj

As gamesters dice, so he lays, down his statutes.

CHAPTER VIII

THE BRAHMANAS

{Circa 800-500 B.C.)

The period in which the poetry of the Vedic Samhitas

arose was followed by one which produced a totally

different literary type the theological treatises called

Brahmanas. It is characteristic of the form of these

works that they are composed in prose, and of their

matter that they deal with the sacrificial ceremonial.

Their main object being to explain the sacred significance

of the ritual to those who are already familiar

with the sacrifice, the descriptions they give of it are not

exhaustive, much being stated only in outline or omitted

altogether. They are ritual text-books, which, however,

in no way aim at furnishing a complete survey of the

sacrificial ceremonial to those who do not know it

already. Their contents may be classified under the

three heads of practical sacrificial directions (yidhi), explanations

(arthavdda), exegetical, mythological, or polemical,

and theological or philosophical speculations on

the nature of things {upanishad). Even those which

have been preserved form quite an extensive literature

by themselves ; yet many others must have been lost,

as appears from the numerous names of and quotations

from Brahmanas unknown to us occurring in those which

are extant. They reflect the spirit of an age in which

BRAHMANAS 203

all intellectual activity is concentrated on the sacrifice,

describing its ceremonies, discussing its value, speculating

on its origin and significance. It is only reasonable

to suppose that an epoch like this, which produced

no other literary monuments, lasted for a considerable

time. For though the Brahmanas are on the whole

uniform in character, differences of age are traceable

in them. Next to the prose portions of the Yajurvedasy

the Panchavimca and the Taittiriya are proved by their

syntax and vocabulary to be the most archaic of the

regular Brahmanas. This conclusion is confirmed by

the fact that the latter is, and the former is known to have

been, accented. A more recent group is formed by the

Jaiminlya, the Kaushitaki, and the Aitareya Brahmanas,

The first of these is probably the oldest, while the third

seems, on linguistic grounds at least, to be the latest of

the three. The Qatapatha Brdhmana, again, is posterior

to these. For it shows a distinct advance in matter;

its use of the narrative tenses is later than that of the

Aitareya; and its style is decidedly developed in comparison

with all the above-mentioned Brahmanas. It

is, indeed, accented, but in a way which differs entirely

from the regular Vedic method. Latest of all are the

Gopatha Brakmana of the Atharva and the short Brahmanas

of the Samaveda.

In language the Brahmanas are considerably more

limited in the use of forms than the Rigveda. The subjunctive

is, however, still employed, as well as a good

many of the old infinitives. Their syntax, indeed, represents

the oldest Indian stage even better than the Rigveda,

chiefly of course owing to the restrictions imposed

by metre on the style of the latter. The Brahmanas

contain some metrical pieces (gdthds), which differ from

204 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

the prose in which they are imbedded by certain peculiarities

of their own and by a more archaic character.

Allied to these is a remarkable poem of this period, the

SuparnddJiydyay an attempt, after the age of living Vedic

poetry had come to an end, to compose in the style of

the Vedic hymns. It contains many Vedic forms, and

is accented, but it betrays its true character not only by

its many modern forms, but by numerous monstrosities

due to unsuccessful imitation of the Vedic language.

A further development are the Aranyakas or %i Forest

Treatises," the later age of which is indicated both by the

position they occupy at the end of the Brahmanas and

by their theosophical character. These works are generally

represented as meant for the use of pious men

who have retired to the forest and no longer perform

sacrifices. According to the view of Professor Oldenberg,

they are, however, rather treatises which, owing to

the superior mystic sanctity of their contents, were intended

to be communicated to the pupil by his teacher

in the solitude of the forest instead of in the village.

In tone and content the Aranyakas form a transition

to the Upanishads, which are either imbedded in them,

or more usually form their concluding portion. The

word upa-ni-shad (literally "sitting down beside") having

first doubtless meant " confidential session," came to signify

" secret or esoteric doctrine," because these works

were taught to select pupils (probably towards the end of

their apprenticeship) in lectures from which the wider

circle was excluded. Being entirely devoted to theological

and philosophical speculations on the nature of things,

the Upanishads mark the last stage of development in

the Brahmana literature. As they generally come at

the end of the Brahmanas, they are also called Veddnta

BRAHMANAS OF THE RIGVEDA 205 ,

("end of the Veda"), a term later interpreted to mean

" final goal of the Veda." " Revelation

"

{gruti) was

regarded as including them, while the Sutras belonged

to the sphere of tradition (smriti). The subject-matter

of all the old Upanishads is essentially the same the

doctrine of the nature of the Atman or Brahma (the

supreme soul). This fundamental theme was expounded

in various ways by the different Vedic schools, of which

the Upanishads were originally the dogmatic text-books,

just as the Brahmanas were their ritual text-books.

The Aranyakas and Upanishads represent a phase

of language which on the whole closely approaches to

classical Sanskrit, the oldest Upanishads occupying a

position linguistically midway between the Brahmanas

and the Sutras.

Of the two Brahmanas attached to the Rigveda, the

more important is the Aitareya. The extant text consists

of forty chapters (adhydya) divided into eight books

called panchikds or "pentads," because containing five

chapters each. That its last ten chapters were a later

addition appears likely both from internal evidence and

from the fact that the closely related dnkhdyana Brdhmana

contains nothing corresponding to their subjectmatter,

which is dealt with in the ^dnkhdyana Sutra.

The last three books would further appear to have

been composed at a later date than the first five, since

the perfect in the former is used as a narrative tense,

while in the latter it still has its original present force,

as in the oldest Brahmanas. The essential part of this

Brahmana deals with the soma sacrifice. It treats first

(1-16) of the soma rite called Agnishtomay which lasts

one day, then (17-18) of that called Gavdmayanay which

lasts 360 days, and thirdly (19-24) of the Dvddaqdha

206 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

or "twelve days' rite." The next part (25-32), which

is concerned with the Agnihotra or "

fire sacrifice

" and

other matters, has the character of a supplement. The

last portion (33-40), dealing with the ceremonies of the

inauguration of the king and with the position of his

domestic priest, bears similar signs of lateness.

The other Brahmana of the Rigveda, which goes

by the name of Kaushltaki as well as dnkhdyana, consists

of thirty chapters. Its subject-matter is, on the

whole, the same as that of the original part of the

Aitareya (i.-v.), but is wider. For in its opening chapters

it goes through the setting up of the sacred fire

(agni-ddhdna), the daily morning and evening sacrifice

{agnihotra), the new and full moon ritual, and the fourmonthly

sacrifices. The Soma sacrifice, however, occupies

the chief position even here. The more definite

and methodical treatment of the ritual in the Kaushltaki

would seem to indicate that this Brahmana was composed

at a later date than the first five books of the

Aitareya. Such a conclusion is, however, not altogether

borne out by a comparison of the linguistic data of these

two works. Professor Weber argues from the occurrence

in one passage of Icana and Mahadeva as designations

of the god who was later exclusively called (Jiva,

that the Kaushltaki Brahmana was composed at about

the same time as the latest books of the White Yajurveda

and those parts of the Atharva-veda and of the

^atapatha Brahmana in which these appellations of the

same god are found.

These Brahmanas contain very few geographical

data. From the way, however, in which the Aitareya

mentions the Indian tribes, it may be safely inferred

that this work had its origin in the country of the

LEGEND OF gUNAH^EPA 207

Kuru-Panchalas, in which, as we have seen, the Vedic

ritual must have been developed, and the hymns of

the Rigveda were probably collected in the existing

Samhita. From the Kaushltaki we learn that the study

of language was specially cultivated in the north of

India, and that students who returned from there were

regarded as authorities on linguistic questions.

The chief human interest of these Brahmanas lies

in the numerous myths and legends which they contain.

The longest and most remarkable of those found

in the Aitareya is the story of (Junahcepa (Dog's-Tail),

which forms the third chapter of Book VII. The childless

King Haricchandra vowed, if he should have a son,

to sacrifice him to Varuna. But when his son Rohita

was born, he kept putting off the fulfilment of his

promise. At length, when the boy was grown up, his

father, pressed by Varuna, prepared to perform the

sacrifice. Rohita, however, escaped to the forest, where

he wandered for six years, while his father was afflicted

with dropsy by Varuna. At last he fell in with a starving

Brahman, who consented to sell to him for a hundred

cows his son (Junahcepa as a substitute. Varuna agreed,

saying, "A Brahman is worth more than a Kshatriya."

(Junahcepa was accordingly bound to the stake, and

the sacrifice was about to proceed, when the victim

prayed to various gods in succession. As he repeated

one verse after the other, the fetters of Varuna began

to fall off and the dropsical swelling of the king to

diminish, till finally (Junahgepa was released and Haricchandra

was restored to health again.

The style of the prose in which the Aitareya is composed

is crude, clumsy, abrupt, and elliptical. The following

quotation from the stanzas interspersed in the

208 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

story of (Junahcepa may serve as a specimen of the

gdthds found in the Brahmanas. These verses are

addressed by a sage named Narada to King Haricchandra

on the importance of having a son :

In him a fatherpays a debt

And reaches immortality,

When he beholds the countenance

Ofa son born to him alive.

Than all thejoy which living things

Jn watersfeel, in earth andfire,

The happiness that in his son

Afatherfeels is greaterfar.

At all timesfathers by a son

Much darkness, too, havepassed beyond:

In him thefather's self is born,

He wafts him to the other shore.

Food is marts life and clothes affordprotection,

Goldgives him beauty, marriages bring cattle;

His wife's afriend, his daughter causes pity :

A son is like a light in highest heaven.

To the Aitareya Brdhmana belongs the Aitareya

Aranyaka. It consists of eighteen chapters, distributed

unequally among five books. The last two books are

composed in the Sutra style, and are really to be regarded

as belonging to the Sutra literature. Four parts can be

clearly distinguished in the first three books. Book I.

deals with various liturgies of the Soma sacrifice from a

purely ritual point of view. The first three chapters of

Book II., on the other hand, are theosophical in character,

containing speculations about the world-soul under the

names of Prana and Purusha. It is allied in matter to

the Upanishads, some of its more valuable thoughts

recurring, occasionally even word for word, in . the

BRAHMANAS OF THE SAMAVEDA 209

Kaushltaki Upanishad. The third part consists of the remaining

four sections of Book II., which form the regular

Aitareya Upanishad. Finally, Book III. deals with the

mystic and allegorical meaning of the three principal

modes in which the Veda is recited in the Samhitd, Pada

and Krama Pdthas, and of the various letters of the

alphabet.

To the Kaushltaki Brahmana is attached the Kaushltaki

Aranyaka. It consists of fifteen chapters. The first

two of these correspond to Books I. and V. of the Aitareya

Aranyaka, the seventh and eighth to Book III., while the

intervening four chapters (3-6) form the Kaushltaki

Upanishad. The latter is a long and very interesting

Upanishad. It seems not improbably to have been added

as an independent treatise to the completed Aranyaka, as

it is not always found in the same part of the latter work

in the manuscripts.

Brahmanas belonging to two independent schools of

the Sdmaveda have been preserved, those of the Tandins

and of the Talavakaras or Jaiminlyas. Though several

other works here claim the title of ritual text-books, only

three are in reality Brahmanas. The Brahmana of the

Talavakaras, which for the most part is still unpublished,

seems to consist of five books. The first three (unpublished)

are mainly concerned with various parts of the

sacrificial ceremonial. The fourth book, called the

Upanishad Brahmana (probably

" the Brahmana of

mystic meanings "), besides all kinds of allegories of the

Aranyaka order, two lists of teachers, a section about

the origin of the vital airs (prdna) and about the sdvitri

stanza, contains the brief but important Kena Upanishad.

Book V., entitled Arsheya-Brdhmana, is a short enumeration

of the composers of the Sdmaveda.

210 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

To the school of the Tandins belongs the Panchavimqa

(" twenty-five fold"), also called Tandya or Praudha, Brahmana,

which, as the first name implies, consists of twentyfive

books. It is concerned with the Soma sacrifices in

general, ranging from the minor offerings to those which

lasted a hundred days, or even several years. Besides

many legends, it contains a minute description of sacrifices

performed on the SarasvatI and Drishadvatl. Though

Kurukshetra is known to it, other geographical data

which it contains point to the home of this Brahmana.

having lain farther east. Noteworthy among its contents

are . the so-called Vratya-Stomas, which are sacrifices

meant to enable Aryan but non-Brahmanical Indians to

enter the Brahmanical order. A point of interest in this

Brahmana is the bitter hostility which it displays towards

the school of the Kaushltakins. The Shadvirnca Brahmana,

though nominally an independent work, is in

reality a supplement to the Panchavimca, of which, as its

name implies, it forms the twenty-sixth book. The last

of its six chapters is called the Adbhuta Brahmana, which

is intended to obviate the evil effects of various extraordinary

events or portents. Among such phenomena are

mentioned images of the gods when they laugh, cry, sing,

dance, perspire, crack, and so forth.

The other Brahmana of this school, the Chhandogya

Brahmana, is only to a slight extent a ritual text-book.

It does not deal with the Soma sacrifice at all, but only

with ceremonies relating to birth and marriage or prayers

addressed to divine beings. These are the contents of

only the first two "lessons" of this Brahmana of the

Sama theologians. The remaining eight lessons constitute

the Chhandogya Upanishad.

There are four other short works which, though bearBRAHMANAS

OF THE YAJURVEDA 2ii

ing the name, are not really Brahmanas. These are the

Sdmavidhdna Brdhmatia, a treatise on the employment of

chants for all kinds of superstitious purposes ; the Devatddhydya

Brahmana, containing some statements about

the deities of the various chants of the Sdmaveda ; the

Vamca Brahmana, which furnishes a genealogy of the

teachers of the Sdmaveda ; and, finally, the Samhitopanishad,

which, like the third book of the Aitareya

Aranyaka, treats of the way in which the Veda should

be recited.

The Brahmanas of the Sdmaveda are distinguished by

the exaggerated and fantastic character of their mystical

speculations. A prominent feature in them is the constant

identification of various kinds of Sdmans or chants

with all kinds of terrestrial and celestial objects. At the

same time they contain much matter that is interesting

from a historical point of view.

In the Black Yajurveda the prose portions of the

various Samhitas form the only Brahmanas in the Katha

and the Maitrayanlya schools. In the Taittiriya school

they form the oldest and most important Brahmana.

Here we have also the Taittiriya Brahmana as an independent

work in three books. This, however, hardly

differs in character from the Taittiriya Samhitd, being

rather a continuation. It forms a supplement concerned

with a few sacrifices omitted in the Samhita, or handles,

with greater fulness of detail, matters already dealt with.

There is also a Taittiriya Aranyaka, which in its turn

forms a supplement to the Brahmana. The last four of

its ten sections constitute the two Upanishads of this

school, vii.-ix. forming the Taittiriya Upanishad, and x.

the Mahd-Ndrdyana Upanishad, also called the Ydjniki

Upanishad. Excepting these four sections, the title of

212 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

Brahmana or Aranyaka does not indicate a difference

of content as compared with the Samhita, but is due to

late and artificial imitation of the other Vedas.

The last three sections of Book III. of the Brahmana,

as well as the first two books of the Aranyaka, originally

belonged to the school of the Kathas, though they have

not been preserved as part of the tradition of that school.

The different origin of these parts is indicated by the

absence of the change of y and v to iy and uv respectively,

which otherwise prevails in the Taittirlya Brahmana and

Aranyaka. In one of these Kathaka sections (Taitt. Br.

iii. n), by way of illustrating the significance of the particular

fire called ndchiketa, the story is told of a boy,

Nachiketas, who, on visiting the House of Death, was

granted the fulfilment of three wishes by the god of the

dead. On this story is based the Kathaka Upanishad.

Though the Maitrayani Samhita has no independent

Brahmana, its fourth book, as consisting of explanations

and supplements to the first three, is a kind of special

Brahmana. Connected with this Samhita, and in the

manuscripts sometimes forming its second or its fifth

book, is the Maitrayana (also called Maitrayaniya and

Maitri) Upanishad.

The ritual explanation of the White Yajurveda is to

be found in extraordinary fulness in the ^atapatha Brahmana,

the u Brahmana of the Hundred Paths," so called

because it consists of one hundred lectures (adhydyd).

This work is, next to the Rigveda, the most important

production in the whole range of Vedic literature. Its

text has come down in two recensions, those of the

Madhyamdina school, edited by Professor Weber, and of

the Kanva school, which is in process of being edited by

Professor Eggeling. The Madhyamdina recension conTHE

^ATAPATHA BRAHMANA 213

sists of fourteen books, while the Kanva has seventeen.

The first nine of the former, corresponding to the original

eighteen books of the Vdjasaneyi Samhitd, doubtless form

the oldest part. The fact that Book XII. is called

madhyamay or "middle one," shows that the last five

books (or possibly only X.-XIII.) were at one time regarded

as a separate part of the Brahmana. Book X.

treats of the mystery of the fire-altar {agnirahasya), XI.

is a sort of recapitulation of the preceding ritual, while

XII. and XIII. deal with various supplementary matters.

The last book forms the Aranyaka, the six concluding

chapters of which are the Brihaddranyaka Upanishad.

Books VI.-X. of the ^atapatha Brahmana occupy a

peculiar position. Treating of the construction of the

fire-altar, they recognise the teaching of Candilya as their

highest authority, Yajnavalkya not even being mentioned;

while the peoples who are named, the Gandharas, Salvas,

Kekayas, belong to the north-west. In the other books

Yajnavalkya is the highest authority, while hardly any

but Eastern peoples, or those of the middle of Hindustan,

the Kuru-Panchalas, Kosalas, Videhas, Srinjayas, are

named. That the original authorship of the five Candilya

books was different from that of the others is indicated

by a number of linguistic differences, which the hand of

a later editor failed to remove. Thus the use of the perfect

as a narrative tense is unknown to the (Jandilya

books (as well as to XIII.).

The geographical data of the QatapatJia Brahmana

point to the land of the Kuru-Panchalas being still the

centre of Brahmanical culture. Janamejaya is here celebrated

as a king of the Kurus, and the most renowned

Brahmanical teacher of the age, Aruni, is expressly stated

to have been a Panchala. Nevertheless, it is clear that

214 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

the Brahmanical system had by this time spread to the

countries to the east of Madhyadeca, to Kosala, with its

capital, Ayodhya(Oudh), and Videha (Tirhut or Northern

Behar), with its capital, Mithila. The court of King

Janaka of Videha was thronged with Brahmans from

the Kuru-Panchala country. The tournaments of argument

which were here held form a prominent feature in

the later books of the ^atapatha Brdhmana, The hero of

these is Yajnavalkya, who, himself a pupil of Aruni, is

regarded as the chief spiritual authority in the Brahmana

(excepting Books VI.-X.). Certain passages of the Brahmana

render it highly probable that Yajnavalkya was a

native of Videha. The fact that its leading authority,

who thus appears to have belonged to this Eastern

country, is represented as vanquishing the most distinguished

teachers of the West in argument, points to the

redaction of the White Yajurveda having taken place in

this eastern region.

The ^atapatha Brdhmana contains reminiscences of

the days when the country of Videha was not as yet

Brahmanised. Thus Book I. relates a legend in which

three stages in the eastward migration of the Aryans can

be clearly distinguished. Mathava, the king of Videgha

(the 'older form of Videha), whose family priest was

Gotama Rahugana, was at one time on the Sarasvati.

Agni Vaicvanara (here typical of Brahmanical culture)

thence went burning along this earth towards the east,

followed by Mathava and his priest, till he came to the

river Sadanlra (probably the modern Gandak, a tributary

running into the Ganges near Patna), which flows from

the northern mountain, and which he did not burn over.

This river Brahmans did not cross in former times,

thinking "it has not been burnt over by Agni VaicvaTHE

(JATAPATHA BRAHMANA 215

nara.*' At that time the land to the eastward was very

uncultivated and marshy, but now many Brahmans are

there, and it is highly cultivated, for the Brahmans have

caused Agni to taste it through sacrifices. Mathava the

Videgha then said to Agni,

" Where am I to abide ?

"

"To the east of this river be thy abode," he replied.

Even now, the writer adds, this river forms the boundary

between the Kosalas (Oudh) and the Videhas (Tirhut).

The Vajasaneyi school of the White Yajurveda evidently

felt a sense of the superiority of their sacrificial

lore, which grew up in these eastern countries. Blame

is frequently expressed in the Qatapatha Brahmana of

the Adhvaryu priests of the Charaka school. The latter

is meant as a comprehensive term embracing the three

older schools of the Black Yajurveda, the Kathas, the

Kapishthalas, and the Maitrayanlyas.

As Buddhism first obtained a firm footing in Kosala

and Videha, it is interesting to inquire in what relation

the ^atapatha Brahmaiia stands to the beginnings of that

doctrine. In this connection it is to be noted that the

words Arhaty Qramanay and Pratibuddha occur here for

the first time, but as yet without the technical sense which

they have in Buddhistic literature. Again, in the lists of

teachers given in the Brahmana mention is made with

special frequency of the Gautamas, a family name used

by the (Jakyas of Kapilavastu, among whom Buddha was

born. Certain allusions are also suggestive of the beginnings

of the Sankhya doctrine ; for mention is several

times made of a teacher called Asuri, and according to

tradition Asuri is the name of a leading authority for the

Sankhya system. If we inquire as to how far the legends

of our Brahmana contain the germs of the later epic

tales, we find that there is indeed some slight connection*

15

216 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

Janamejaya, the celebrated king of the Kurus in the

Mahdbhdrata, is mentioned here for the first time. The

Pandus, however, who proved victorious in the epic

war, are not to be met with in this any more than in the

other Brahmanas ; and Arjuna, the name of their chief,

is still an appellation of Indra. But as the epic Arjuna is

a son of Indra, his origin is doubtless to be traced to this

epithet of Indra. Janaka, the famous king of Videha, is

in all probability identical with the father of Slta, the

heroine of the Rdmdyana.

Of two legends which furnished the classical poet

Kalidasa with the plots of two of his most famous

dramas, one is told in detail, and the other is at least

alluded to. The' story of the love and separation of

Pururavas and UrvacI, already dimly shadowed forth in

a hymn of the Rigveda, is here related with much more

fulness ; while Bharata, son of Duhshanta and of the

nymph Cakuntala, also appears on the scene in this

Brahmana.

A most interesting legend which reappears in the

Mahdbhdratay that of the Deluge, is here told for the

first time in Indian literature, though it seems to be

alluded to in the Atharva-veda, while it is known even

to the Avesta. This myth is generally regarded as

derived from a Semitic source. It tells how Manu

once came into possession of a small fish, which asked

him to rear it, and promised to save him from the

coming flood. Having built a ship in accordance with

the fish's advice, he entered it when the deluge arose,

and was finally guided to the Northern Mountain by

the fish, to whose horn he had tied his ship. Manu subsequently

became the progenitor of mankind through

his daughter.

brAhmana OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA 217

v The (^atapatha Brahmana is thus a mine of important

data and noteworthy narratives. Internal evidence shows

it to belong to a late period of the Brahmana age. Its

style, as compared with the earlier works of the same

class, displays some progress towards facility and clearness.

Its treatment of the sacrificial ceremonial, which

is essentially the same in the Brahmana portions of

the Black Yajurveda, is throughout more lucid and

systematic. On the theosophic side, too, we find the

idea of the unity in the universe more fully developed

than in any other Brahmana work, while its Upanishad

is the finest product of Vedic philosophy.

To the Atharva-veda is attached the Gopatlia BrdJimana,

though it has no particular connection with that

Samhita. This Brahmana consists of two books, the

first containing -five chapters, the second six. Both parts

are very late, for they were composed after the Vaitdna

Sutra and practically without any Atharvan tradition.

The matter of the former half, while not corresponding

or following the order of the sacrifice in any ritual

text, is to a considerable extent original, the rest being

borrowed from Books XI. and XII. of the Qatapatha

Brahmana, besides a few passages from the Aitareya.

The main motive of this portion is the glorification of

the Atharva-veda and of the fourth or brahman priest.

The mention of the god Civa points to its belonging to

the post-Vedic rather than to the Brahmana period. Its

presupposing the Atharva-veda in twenty books, and containing

grammatical matters of a very advanced type, are

other signs of lateness. The latter half bears more the

stamp of a regular Brahmana, being a fairly connected

account of the ritual in the sacrificial order of the

Vaitdna Qrauta Sutra; but it is for the most part a

2i 8 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

compilation. The ordinary historical relation of Brahmana

and Sutra is here reversed, the second book of the

Gopatha Brdhmana being based on the Vaitdna Sutra,

which stands to it practically in the relation of a Samhita.

About two-thirds of its matter have already been shown

to be taken from older texts. The Aitareya and Kaushitaki

Brdhmanas have been chiefly exploited, and to a

less extent the Maitrdyanl and Taittirlya Samhitds. A

few passages are derived from the Qatapatha, and even

the Panchavimca Brdhmana.

Though the Upanishads generally form a part of the

Brahmanas, being a continuation of their speculative side

{jndna-kdndd), they really represent a new religion,

which is in virtual opposition to the ritual or practical

side (karma-kdnda). Their aim is no longer the obtainment

of earthly happiness and afterwards bliss in the

abode of Yama by sacrificing correctly to the gods, but

release from mundane existence by the absorptionof the

individual soul in the world-soul through correct knowledge.

Here, therefore, the sacrificial ceremonial JKJS

become useless and speculative knowledgejdl-important.

The essential theme of the Upanishads is the nature

of the world-soul. Their conception of it represents

the final stage in the development from the world-man,

Purusha, of the Rigveda to the world-soul, Atman ; from

the personal creator, Prajapati, to the impersonal source

of all being, Brahma. Atman in the Rigveda means no

more than U breath

"

; wind, for instance, being spoken

of as the atman of Varuna. In the Brahmanas it came

to mean "soul" or "self." In one of their speculations

the prdnas or " vital airs," which are supposed to be

based on the atman, are identified with the gods, and

so an atman comes to be attributed to the universe.

THE UPANISHADS 219

In one of the later books of the atapatha Brahmana

(X. vi. 3) this dtmatiy which has already arrived at

a high degree of abstraction, is said to "pervade this

universe." Brahma (neuter) in the Rigveda signified

nothing more than "

prayer

"

or " devotion." But

even in the oldest Brahmanas it has come to have the

sense of "universal holiness/' as manifested in prayer,

priest, and sacrifice. In the Upanishads it is the holy

principle which animates nature. Having a long subsequent

history, this word is a very epitome of the

evolution of religious thought in India. These two

conceptions, Atman and Brahma, are commonly treated

as synonymous in the Upanishads. But, strictly speaking,

Brahma, the older term, represents the cosmical principle

which pervades the universe, Atman the psychical

principle manifested in man ; and the latter, as the

known, is used to explain the former as the- unknown.

The Atman under the name of the Eternal {aksharam)

is thus described in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad

(III. viii. 8, 11) :

" It is not largey and not minute ; not short, not long;

without blood, withoutfat ; without shadow, without darkness

; without wind, without ether ; not adhesive, not tangible

; without smelly without taste; without eyesy earsy

voice, or mind; without heaty breathy or mouth; without

personal or family name ; unagingy undyingy without fear',

immortal, dustless, not uncovered or covered; with nothing

before} nothing behind, nothing within. It consumes no one

and is consumed by no one. It is the unseen seery the unheard

hearery the unthought thinker, the unknown knower.

TJiere is no other seer, no other hearer, no other thinkery

no other knower. That is the Eternal in which space (akaca)

is woven and which is interwoven with it."

220 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

Here, for the first time in the history of human

thought, we find the Absolute grasped and proclaimed.

A poetical account of the nature of the Atman is

given by the Kathaka Upanishad in the following

stanzas :

That whence the suris orb rises up,

And that in which it sinks again :

In it the gods are all contained.

Beyond it none can everpass (iv. 9).

*

Itsform can never be to sight apparent,

Not any one may with his eye behold it :

By heart and mind and soul alone they grasp it,

And those who know it thus become immortal (vi. 9).

Since not by speech and not by thought,

Not by the eye can it be reached :

How else may it be understood

But only when one says "it is" f (vi. 12).

The place of the more personal Prajapati is taken

in the Upanishads by the Atman as a creative power.

Thus the Brihadaranyaka (I. iv.) relates that in the

beginning the Atman or the Brahma was this universe.

It was afraid in its loneliness and felt no pleasure.

Desiring a second being, it became man and woman,

whence the human race was produced. It then proceeded

to produce male and female animals in a

similar way ; finally creating water, lire, the gods, and

so forth. The author then proceeds in a more exalted

strain :

u It {the Atmart) is here all-pervading dozvn to the tips

of the nails. One does not see it any more than a razor

hidden in its case or fire in its receptacle. For it does not

appear as a whole. When it breathes, it is called breath ;

when it speaks, voice ; when it hears, ear ; when it thinks,

mind. These are merely the names of its activities. He

\A

MAIN DOCTRINE OF THE UPANISHADS 221

who worships the one or the other of these, has not {correct)

knowledge. . . . One should worship it as the Self. For in

it all these {breath, etc.) become one"

In one of the later Upanishads, the Qvetacvatara

(iv. 10), the notion, so prominent in the later Vedanta

system, that the material world is an illusion {mdyd), is

first met -with. The world is here explained as an illusion

produced by Brahma as a conjuror {mdyin). This notion

is, however, inherent even in the oldest Upanishads.

It is virtually identical with the teaching of Plato that

the things of experience are only the shadow of the real

things, and with the teaching of Kant, that they are

only phenomena of the thing in itself.

The great fundamental doctrine of the Upanishads is

the identity of the individual atman with the world Atman.

It is most forcibly expressed in a frequently repeated

sentence of the Chhandogya Upanishad (vi. 8-16) :

" This

whole world consists of it : that is the Real, that is the Soul,

that art thou, O Qvetaketu" In that famous formula,

" That art thou "

{tat tvam asi), all the teachings of the

Upanishads are summed up. The Brihaddranyaka (I.

iv. 6) expresses the same doctrine thus :

" Whoever knows

this,

* I am brahma' (aham brahma asmi), becomes the All.

Even the gods are not able to prevent him from becoming it.

For he becomes their Self (atman)." k

This identity was already recognised in the atapatha

Brahmana (X. vi. 3) :

" Even as the smallest granule of

millet, so is this golden Purusha in the heart. . . . That self

of the spirit is my self: on passingfrom hence I shall obtain

that Self."

v We find everywhere in these treatises a restless striving

to grasp the true nature of the pantheistic Self, now

through one metaphor, now through another. Thus

222 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

(Brih. Up. II. iv.) the wise Yajnavalkya, about to renounce

the world and retire to the forest, replies to the question

of his wife, Maitreyl, with the words :

" As a lump of salt

thrown into the water would dissolve and could not be taken

out again, while the water, wherever tasted, would be salt, so

is this great being endless, unlimited, simply co7npacted of

cognition. Arising out of these elements, it disappears again

in them. After death there is no consciousness ;

"

for, as he

further explains, when the duality on which consciousness

is based disappears, consciousness must necessarily

cease.

In another passage of the same Upanishad (II. i. 20)

we read : "Just as the spider goes out of itself by means of

its thread, as tiny sparks leap out of the fire, so from the

Atman issue all vital airs, all worlds, all gods, all beings."

Here, again, is a stanza from the Mundaka (III. ii. 8) :

As riversflow and disappear at last

In ocean's waters, name andform renouncing,

So, too, the sage, releasedfrom name andform,

Is merged in the divine and highest spirit.

In a passage of the Brihaddranyaka (III. vii.) Yajnavalkya

describes the Atman as the " inner guide

"

{antarydmin)

:

" Who is in all beings, differentfrom all beings, who

guides all beings within, that is thy Self, the inward guide,

immortal"

The same Upanishad contains an interesting conversation,

in which King Ajatacatru of Kagi (Benares) instructs

the Brahman, Balaki Gargya, that Brahma is not the

spirit (purusha) which is in sun, moon, wind, and other

natural phenomena, or even in the (waking) soul {atman),

but is either the dreaming soul, which is creative, assuming

any form at pleasure, or, in the highest stage, the

THEORY OF TRANSMIGRATION 223

soul in dreamless sleep, for here all phenomena have disappeared.

This is the first and the last condition of

Brahma, in which no world exists, all material existence

being only the phantasms of the dreaming world-soul.

Of somewhat similar purport is a passage of the

Chhdndogya (viii. 7-12), where Prajapati is represented as

teaching the nature of the Atman in three stages. The

soul in the body as reflected in a mirror or water is first

identified with Brahma, then the dreaming soul, and,

lastly, the soul in dreamless sleep.

How generally accepted the pantheistic theory must

have become by the time the disputations at the court of

King Janaka took place, is indicated by the form in which

questions are put. Thus two different sages in the

Brihadaranyaka (iii. 4, 5) successively ask Yajnavalkya

in the same words :

"

Explain to us the Brahma which is

manifest and not hiddeny the Atman that dwells in everything:'

With the doctrine that true knowledge led to supreme

bliss by the absorption of the individual soul in Brahma

went hand in hand the theory of transmigration (samsard).

That theory is developed in the oldest tlpanishads

; it must have been firmly established by the

time Buddhism arose, for Buddha accepted it without

question. Its earliest form is found in the atapatha

Brahmana} where the notion of being born again after

death and dying repeatedly is coupled with that of retribution.

Thus it is here said that those who have correct

knowledge and perform a certain sacrifice are born again

* after death for immortality, while those who have not

such knowledge and do not perform this sacrifice are

reborn again and again, becoming the prey of Death.

The notion here expressed does not go beyond repeated

224 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

births and deaths in the next world. It is transformed

to the doctrine of transmigration in the Upanishads by

supposing rebirth to take place in this world. In the

Brihaddranyaka we further meet with the beginnings of the

doctrine of karma, or u

action," which regulates the new

birth, and makes it depend on a man's own deeds. When

the body returns to the elements, nothing of the individuality

is here said to remain but the karma, according

to which a man becomes good or bad. This is, perhaps,

the germ of the Buddhistic doctrine, which, though denying

the existence of soul altogether, allows karma to

continue after death and to determine the next birth.

The most important and detailed account of the

theory of transmigration which we possess from Vedic

times is supplied by the Chhdndogya Upanishad. The

forest ascetic possessed of knowledge and faith, it is here

said, after death enters the devaydna, the "path of the

gods," which leads to absorption in Brahma, while the

householder who has performed sacrifice and good works

goes by the pitriydna or u

path of the Fathers "

to the

moon, where he remains till the consequences of his actions

are exhausted. He then returns to earth, being first born

again as a plant and afterwards as a man of one of the

three highest castes. Here we have a double retribution,

first in the next world, then by transmigration in this.

The former is a survival of the old Vedic belief about the

future life. The wicked are born again as outcasts

(ckandalas), dogs or swine.

The account of the Brihaddranyaka (VI. ii. 15-16) is

similar. Those who have true knowledge and faith pass

through the world of the gods and the sun to the world

of Brahma, whence there is no return. Those who practise

sacrifice and good works pass through the world of

THE LEGEND OF NACHIKETAS 225

the Fathers to the moon, whence they return to earth,

being born again as men. Others become birds, beasts,

and reptiles.

The view of the Kaushitaki Upanishad (i. 2-3) is

somewhat different. Here all who die go to the moon,

whence some go by the "path of the Fathers" to

Brahma, while others return to various forms of earthly

existence, ranging from man to worm, according to the

quality of their works and the degree of their knowledge.

The Kdthaka, one of the most remarkable and

beautiful of the Upanishads, treats the question of life

after death in the form of a legend. Nachiketas, a young

Brahman, visits the realm of Yama, who offers him the

choice of three boons. For the third he chooses the

answer to the question, whether man exists after death

or no. Death replies :

" Even the gods have doubted

about this ; it is a subtle point ; choose another boon."

After vain efforts to evade the question by offering

Nachiketas earthly power and riches, Yama at last yields

to his persistence and reveals the secret. Life and death,

he explains, are only different phases of development.

True knowledge, which consists in recognising the

identity of the individual soul with the world soul, raises

its possessor beyond the reach of death :

When every passion vanishes

That nestles in the human heart,

Then man gains immortality,

Then Brah?na is obtained by him (vi. 14).

The story of the temptation of Nachiketas to choose

the goods of this world in preference to the highest

knowledge is probably the prototype of the legend of

the temptation of Buddha by Mara or Death. Both by

resisting the temptation obtain enlightenment.

226 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

It must not of course be supposed that the Upanishads,

either as a whole or individually, offer a complete

and consistent conception of the world logically developed.

They are rather a mixture of half-poetical,

half-philosophical fancies, of dialogues and disputations

dealing tentatively with metaphysical questions. Their

speculations were only later reduced to a system in the

Vedanta philosophy. The earliest of them can hardly

be dated later than about 600 B.C., since some important

doctrines first met with in them are presupposed by

Buddhism. They may be divided chronologically, on

internal evidence, into four classes. The oldest group,

consisting, in chronological order, of the Brihaddranyaka,

Chhdndogya, Taittirlyay Aitareya, Kaushitaki, is written

in prose which still suffers from the awkwardness of

the Brahmana style. A transition is formed by the

Kena, which is partly in verse and partly in prose, to

a decidedly later class, the Kdthaka, led, (^vetdevatara,

Mundaka, Mahdndrdyanay which are metrical, and in

which the Upanishad doctrine is no longer developing,

but has become fixed. These are more attractive from

the literary point of view. Even those of the older class

acquire a peculiar charm from their liveliness, enthusiasm,

and freedom from pedantry, while their language

often rises to the level of eloquence. The third class,

comprising the Pracna} Maitrdyanlya, and Mdiidukya,

reverts to the use of prose, which is, however, of a

much less archaic type than that of the first class, and

approaches that of classical Sanskrit writers. The fourth

class consists of the later Atharvan Upanishads, some

of which are composed in prose, others in verse.

The Aitareyay one of the shortest of the Upanishads

(extending to only about four octavo pages), consists of

THE KAUSHITAKI UPANISHAD 227

three chapters. The first represents the world as a

creation of the Atman (also called Brahma), and man as

its highest manifestation. It is based on the Purusha

hymn of the Rigveda, but the primeval man is in the

Upanishad described as having been produced by the

Atman from the waters which it created. The Atman

is here said to occupy three abodes in man, the senses,

mind, and heart, to which respectively correspond the

three conditions of waking, dreaming, and deep sleep.

The second chapter treats of the threefold birth of the

Atman. The end of transmigration is salvation, which

is represented as an immortal existence in heaven. The

last chapter dealing with the nature of the Atman states

that " consciousness (prajna) is Brahma."

The Kaushitaki Upanishad is a treatise of considerable

length divided into four chapters. The first deals with

the two paths traversed by souls after death in connection

with transmigration ; the second with Prana or life

as a symbol of the Atman. The last two, while discussing

the doctrine of Brahma, contain a disquisition about the

dependence of the objects of sense on the organs of

sense, and of the latter on unconscious life {prana) and

conscious life {prajnatma). Those who aim at redeeming

knowledge are therefore admonished not to seek after

objects or subjective faculties, but only the subject of

cognition and action, which is described with much

power as the highest god, and at the same time as the

Atman within us.

The Upanishads of the Samaveda start from the

saman or chant, just as those of the Rigveda from the

uktha or hymn recited by the Hotri priest, in order, by

interpreting it allegorically, to arrive at a knowledge of

the Atman or Brahma. The fact that the Upanishads

228 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

have the same basis, which is, moreover, largely treated

in a similar manner, leads to the conclusion that the

various Vedic schools found a common body of oral

tradition which they shaped into dogmatic texts-books

or Upanishads in their own way.

Thus the Chhdndogyay which is equal in importance,

and only slightly inferior in extent, to the Brihaddranyaka,

bears clear traces, like the latter, of being made up of

collections of floating materials. Each of its eight chapters

forms an independent whole, followed by supplementary

pieces often but slightly connected with the

main subject-matter.

The first two chapters consist of mystical interpretations

of the sdman and its chief part, called Udgltha

("loud song"). A supplement to the second chapter

treats, among other subjects, of the or.igin of the syllable

omy and of the three stages of religious life, those of the

Brahman pupil, the householder, and the ascetic (to

which later the religious mendicant was added as a

fourth). The third chapter in the main deals with

Brahma as the sun of the universe, the natural sun

being its manifestation. The infinite Brahma is further

described as dwelling, whole and undivided, in the heart

of man. The way in which Brahma is to be attained

is then described, and the great fundamental dogma

of the identity of Brahma with the Atman (or, as we

might say, of God and Soul) is declared. The chapter

concludes with a myth which forms a connecting link

between the cosmogonic conceptions of the Rigveda and

those of the law-book of Manu. The fourth chapter,

containing discussions about wind, breath, and other

phenomena connected with Brahma, also teaches how

the soul makes its way to Brahma after death.

THE CHHANDOGYA UPANISHAD 229

The first half of chapter v. is almost identical with

the beginning of chapter vi. of the Brihadaranyaka. It

is chiefly noteworthy for the theory of transmigration

which it contains. The second half of the chapter is

important as the earliest statement of the doctrine that

the manifold world is unreal. The sat by desire produced

from itself the three primary elements, heat, water,

food (the later number being five ether, air, fire, water,

earth). As individual soul (jiva-dtman) it entered into

these, which, by certain partial combinations called

"

triplication," became various products (vikdrd) or phenomena.

But the latter are a mere name. Sat is the

only reality, it is the Atman :

" Thou art that." Chapter

vii. enumerates sixteen forms in which Brahma may

be adored, rising by gradation from namanf "name,"

to bhumany

"

infinity," which is the all-in-all and the

Atman within us. The first half of the last chapter discusses

the Atman in the heart and the universe, as well as

how to attain it. The concluding portion of the chapter

distinguishes the false from the true Atman, illustrated

by the three stages in which it appears in the material

body, in dreaming, and in sound sleep. In the latter

stage we have the true Atman, in which the distinction

between subject and object has disappeared.

To the Sdmaveda also belongs a very short treatise

which was long called the Talavakara Upanishad, from the

school to which it was attached, but later, when it became

separated from that school, received the name of Kena,

from its initial word. It consists of two distinct parts.

The second, composed in prose and much older, describes

the relation of the Vedic gods to Brahma, representing

them as deriving their power from and entirely

dependent on the latter. The first part, which is metrical

230 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

and belongs to the period of fully developed Vedanta

doctrine, distinguishes from the qualified Brahma, which

is an object of worship, the unqualified Brahma, which

is unknowable :

To it no eye can penetrate,

Nor speech nor thought can ever reach :

It rests unknown; we ca?mot see

How any one may teach it us.

The various Upanishads of the Black Yajurveda all

bear the stamp of lateness. The Maitrayana is a prose

work of considerable extent, in which occasional stanzas

are interspersed. It consists of seven chapters, the

seventh and the concluding eight sections of the sixth

forming a supplement. The fact that it retains the

orthographical and euphonic peculiarities of the Maitrayana

school, gives this Upanishad an archaic appearance.

But its many quotations from other Upanishads,

the occurrence of several late

t words, the developed

Sankhya doctrine presupposed by it, distinct references

to anti-Vedic heretical schools, all combine to render the

late character of this work undoubted. It is, in fact, a

summing up of the old Upanishad doctrines with an

admixture of ideas derived from the Sankhya system

and from Buddhism. The main body of the treatise

expounds the nature of the Atman, communicated to

King Brihadratha of the race of Ikshvaku (probably

identical with the king of that name mentioned in the

Rdmdyana), who declaims at some length on the misery

and transitoriness of earthly existence. Though pessimism

is not unknown to the old Upanishads, it is much

more pronounced here, doubtless in consequence of

Sankhya and Buddhistic influence.

The subject is treated in the form of three ques tions.

THE MAITRAYANA UPANISHAD 231

The answer to the first, how the Atman enters the body,

is that Prajapati enters in the form of the five vital airs in

order to animate the lifeless bodies created by him. The

second question is, How does the supreme soul become

the individual soul (bhutdtman) ? This is answered rather

in accordance with the Sankhya than the Vedanta

doctrine. Overcome by the three qualities of matter

(prakriti), the Atman, forgetting its real nature, becomes

involved in self-consciousness and transmigration. The

third question is, How is deliverance from this state

of misery possible ? This is answered in conformity

with neither Vedanta nor Sankhya doctrine, but in a

reactionary spirit. Only those who observe the old

requirements of Brahmanism, the rules of caste and

the religious orders (dcramas), are declared capable of

attaining salvation by knowledge, penance, and meditation

on Brahma. The chief gods, that is to say,

the triad of the Brahmana period, Fire, Wind, San,

the three abstractions, Time, Breath, Food, and the three

popular gods, Brahma, Rudra (i.e. (Jiva), and Vishnu are

explained as manifestations of Brahma.

The remainder of this Upanishad is supplementary,

but contains several passages of considerable interest.

We have here a cosmogonic myth, like those of the

Brahmanas, in which the three qualities of matter, Tamas,

Rajas, Sattva, are connected with Rudra, Brahma, and

Vishnu, and which is in other respects very remarkable

as a connecting link between the philosophy of the

Rigveda and the later Sankhya system. The sun is further

represented as the external, and prdna (breath) as

the internal, symbol of the Atman, their worship being

recommended by means of the sacred syllable om, the

three "utterances" {vydhritis) bhur, bhuvah, svart and the

16

232 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

famous Sdvitri stanza. As a means of attaining Brahma

we find a recommendation of Yoga or the ascetic practices

leading to a state of mental concentration and

bordering on trance. The information we here receive

of these practices is still undeveloped compared with

the later system. In addition to the three conditions

of Brahma, waking, dreaming, and deep sleep, mention

is made of a fourth (turiyd) and highest stage. The

Upanishad concludes with the declaration that the Atman

entered the world of duality because it wished to taste

both truth and illusion.

Older than the Maitrdyana, which borrows from

them, are two other Upanishads of the Black Yajurveda

y the Kdthaka and the (^vetdcvatara. The former

contains some 120 and the latter some no stanzas.

The Kdthaka deals with the legend of Nachiketas,

which is told in the Kathaka portion of the Taittiriya

Brdhmana, and a knowledge of which it presupposes.

This is indicated by the fact that it begins with the

same words as the Brahmana story. The treatise

appears to have consisted originally of the first only

of its two chapters. For the second, with its more

developed notions about Yoga and its much more pronounced

view as to the unreality of phenomena, looks

like a later addition. The first contains an introductory

narrative, an account of the Atman, of its embodiment

and final return by means of Yoga, The second chapter,

though less well arranged, on the whole corresponds

in matter with the first. Its fourth section, while discussing

the nature of the Atman, identifies both soul

{purusha) and matter (prakriti) with it. The fifth section

deals with the manifestation of the Atman in the

world, and especially in man. The way in which it at

THE QVETACVATARA UPANISHAD 233

the same time remains outside them in its full integrity

and is not affected by the suffering of living beings, is

strikingly illustrated by the analogy of both light and

air, which pervade space and yet embrace every object,

and of the sun, the eye of the universe, which remains

free from the blemishes of all other eyes outside of it.

In the last section Yoga is taught to be the means

of attaining the highest goal. The gradation of mental

faculties here described is of great interest for the history

of the Sankhya and Yoga system. An unconscious contradiction

runs through this discussion, inasmuch as

though the Atman is regarded as the all-in-all, a sharp

contrast is drawn between soul and matter. It is the

contradiction between the later Vedanta and the Sankhya-

Yoga systems of philosphy.

According to its own statement, the Qvetacvatara

Upanishad derives its name from an individual author,

and the tradition which attributes it to one of the

schools of the Black Yajurveda hardly seems to have

a sufficient foundation. Its confused arrangement, the

irregularities and arbitrary changes of its metres, the

number of interpolated quotations which it contains,

make the assumption likely that the work in its present

form is not the work of a single author. In its

present form it is certainly later than the Kdthakaf since

it contains several passages which must be referred to

that work, besides many stanzas borrowed from it

with or without variation. Its lateness is further indicated

by the developed theory of Yoga which it contains,

besides the more or less definite form in which it exhibits

various Vedanta doctrines either unknown to or

only foreshadowed in the earlier Upanishads. Among

these may be mentioned the destruction of the world

234 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

by Brahma at the end of a cosmic age {kalpa)y

as well as its periodic renewal out of Brahma, and

especially the explanation of the world as an illusion

(mdya) produced by Brahma. At the same time the

author shows a strange predilection for the personified

forms of Brahma as Savitri, Icana, or Rudra. Though

(^iva has not yet become the name of Rudra, its frequent

use as an adjective connected with the latter shows

that it is in course of becoming fixed as the proper

name of the highest god. In this Upanishad we meet

with a number of the terms and fundamental notions

of the Sankhya, though the point of view is thoroughly

Vedantist ; matter (prakriti), for instance, being represented

as an illusion produced by Brahma.

To the White Yajurveda is attached the longest, and,

beside the Chhdndogya, the most important of the Upanishads.

It bears even clearer traces than that work of

being a conglomerate of what must originally have been

separate treatises. It is divided into three parts, each

containing two chapters. The last part is designated,

even in the tradition of the commentaries, as a supplement

(Khila~kdnda)y a statement fully borne out by the

contents. That the first and second parts were also

originally independent of each other is sufficiently

proved by both containing the legend of Yajnavalkya

and his two wives in almost identical words throughout.

To each of these parts (as well as to Book x. of the

(^atapatha Brdhmand) a successive list {vamcd) of teachers

is attached. A comparison of these lists seems to justify

the conclusion that the first part (called Madhukdndd)

and the second ( Ydjnavalkya-kd?idd) existed during nine

generations as independent Upanishads within the school

of the White Yajurveda, and were then combined by a

THE BRIHADARANYAKA UPANISHAD 235

teacher named Agnivecya; the third part, which consists

of all kinds of supplementary matter, being subsequently

added. These lists further make the conclusion

probable that the leading teachers of the ritual tradition

(Brahmanas) were different from those of the philosophical

tradition (Upanishads).

Beginning with an allegorical interpretation of the

most important sacrifice, the Agvamedha (horse-sacrifice),

as the universe, the first chapter proceeds to deal with

prdna (breath) as a symbol of soul, and then with the

creation of the world out of the Atman or Brahma,

insisting on the dependence of all existence on the Supreme

Soul, which appears in every individual as his self.

The polemical attitude adopted against the worship of

the gods is characteristic, showing that the passage belongs

to an early period, in which the doctrine of the

superiority of the Atman to the gods was still asserting

itself. The next chapter deals with the nature of the Atman

and its manifestations, purusJia and prdna.

The second part of the Upanishad consists of four

philosophical discussions, in which Yajnavalkya is the

chief speaker. The first (iii. 1-9) is a great disputation,

in which the sage proves his superiority to nine successive

interlocutors. One of the most interesting conclusions

here arrived at is that Brahma is theoretically

unknowable, but can be comprehended practically. The

second discourse is a dialogue between King Janaka and

Yajnavalkya, in which the latter shows the untenableness

of six definitions set up by other teachers as to the

nature of Brahma ; for

, instance, that it is identical

with Breath or Mind. He finally declares that the

Atman can only be described negatively, being intangible,

indestructible, independent, immovable.

236 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

The third discourse (iv. 3-4) is another dialogue

between Janaka and Yajnavalkya. It presents a picture

of the soul in the conditions of waking, dreaming, deep

sleep, dying, transmigration, and salvation. For wealth

of illustration, fervour of conviction, beauty and elevation

of thought, this piece is unequalled in the Upanishads

or any other work of Indian literature. Its literary

effect is heightened by the numerous stanzas with which

it is interspersed. These are, however, doubtless later

additions. The dreaming soul is thus described :

Leaving its lower nest in breattts protection,

And upwardfrom that nest, immortal, soaring,

Where'er it lists it roves about immortal,

The golden-pinioned only swan of spirit (IV. iii. 13).

// roves in dream condition up and downward,

Divinely many shapes and forms assuming (ib. 14).

Then follows an account of the dreamless state of the

soul :

As a falcon or an eagle, having flown about in the air,

exhaustedfolds together its wings and prepares to alight, so

the spirit hastes to that condition in which, asleep, it feels no

desire and sees no dream (19).

This is its essential form, in which it rises above desire,

is freefrom evil and withoutfear. For as one embraced by

a beloved woman wots not of anything without or within,

so also the soul embraced by the cognitional Self wots not of

anything without or within (21).

With regard to the souls of those who are not saved,

the view of the writer appears to be that after death

they enter a new body immediately and without any

intervening retribution in the other world, in exact

accordance with their intellectual and moral quality.

THE BRIHADARANYAKA UPANISHAD 237

As a caterpillar, when it has reached the point of a leaf,

makes a new beginning and draws itself across, so the soul,

after casting off the body and letting go ignorance, makes a

new beginning and draivs itself across (IV. iv. 3).

As a goldsmith takes the material of an image and

hammers out of it another newer and more beautiful form,

so also the soul after casting off the body and letting go

ignorance, createsfor itselfanother newer and more beautiful

form, either that of the Fathers or the Gandharvas or the

Gods, or Prajapati or Brahma, or other beings (IV. iv. 4).

But the vital airs of him who is saved, who knows

himself to be identical with Brahma, do not depart, for

he is absorbed in Brahma and is Brahma.

As a serpent's skin, dead and cast off, lies upon an anthill,

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

immortal, the life, is pure Brahma, is pure light (IV. iv. 7).

The fourth discourse is a dialogue between Yajnavalkya

and his wife Maitreyl, before the former, about

to renounce the world, retires to the solitude of the

forest. There are several indications that it is a secondary

recension of the same conversation occurring in a

previous chapter (II. iv.).

The first chapter of the third or supplementary

part consists of fifteen sections, which are often quite

short, are mostly unconnected in matter, and appear to

be of very different age. The second chapter, however,

forms a long and important treatise (identical with that

found in the Chhandogyd) on the doctrine of transmigration.

The views here expressed are so much at variance with

those of Yajnavalkya that this text must have originated

in another Vedic school, and have been loosely attached

to this Upanishad owing to the peculiar importance of

238 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

its contents. The preceding and following section, which

are connected with it, and are also found in the Chhdndogya,

must have been added at the same time.

. Not only is the longest Upanishad attached to the

White Yajurveda, but also one of the very shortest,

consisting of only eighteen stanzas. This is the led,

which is so called from its initial word. Though forming

the last chapter of the Vdjasaneyi Samhitd, it belongs

to a rather late period. It is about contemporaneous

with the latest parts of the Brihaddrariyaka, is more

developed in many points than the Kathaka, but seems

to be older than the Qvetdcvatara. Its leading motive

is to contrast him who knows himself to be the same

as the Atman with him who does not possess true

knowledge. It affords an excellent survey of the fundamental

doctrines of the Vedanta philosophy.

A large and indefinite number of Upanishads is attributed

to the Atharva-veda, but the most authoritative

list recognises twenty-seven altogether. They are for

the most part of very late origin, being post-Vedic, and,

all but three, contemporaneous with the Puranas. One

of them is actually a Muhammadan treatise entitled the

Alia Upanishad ! The older Upanishads which belong to

the first three Vedas were, with a few exceptions like the

vetdcvatara, the dogmatic text-books of actual Vedic

schools, and received their names from those schools,

being connected with and supplementary to the ritual

Brahmanas. The Upanishads of the Atharva-veda, on the

other hand, are with few exceptions like the Mandukya

and the Jdbala, no longer connected with Vedic schools,

but derive their names from their subject-matter or

some other circumstance. They appear for the most

part to represent the views of theosophic, mystic, ascetic,

UPANISHADS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA 239

or sectarian associations, who wished to have an Upanishad

of their own in imitation of the old Vedic schools.

They became attached to the Atharva-veda not from any

internal connection, but partly because the followers of

the Atharva-veda desired to become possessed of dogmatic

text-books of their own, and partly because the

fourth Veda was not protected from the intrusion of

foreign elements by the watchfulness of religious guilds

like the old Vedic schools.

The fundamental doctrine common to all the Upanishads

of the Atharva-veda is developed by most of

them in various special directions. They may accordingly

be divided into four categories which run chronologically

parallel with one another, each containing

relatively old and late productions. The first group,

as directly investigating the nature of the Atman, has

a scope similar to that of the Upanishads of the other

Vedas, and goes no further than the latter in developing

its main thesis. The next group, taking the fundamental

doctrine for granted, treats of absorption in the

Atman through ascetic meditation {yoga) based on the

component parts of the sacred syllable om. These

Upanishads are almost without exception composed

in verse and are quite short, consisting on the average

of about twenty stanzas. In the third category the

life of the religious mendicant (sannyasiri), as a practical

consequence of the Upanishad doctrine, is recommended

and described. These Upanishads, too, are short, but

are written in prose, though with an admixture of verse.

The last group is sectarian in character, interpreting

the popular gods (Jiva (under various names, such as

Igana, Mahegvara, Mahadeva) and Vishnu (as Narayana

and Nrisimha or "

Man-lion") as personifications

240 SANSKRIT LITERATURE

of the Atman. The different Avatars of Vishnu are

here regarded as human manifestations of the Atman.

The oldest and most important of these Atharvan

Upanishads, as representing the Vedanta doctrine most

faithfully, are the Munddka, the Pracna, and to a less

degree the Mandukya. The first two come nearest to

the Upanishads of the older Vedas, and are much

quoted by Badarayana and (^ankara, the great authorities

of the later Vedanta philosophy. They are the only

original and legitimate Upanishads of the Atharva. The

Mundaka derives its name from being the Upanishad

of the tonsured (munda), an association of ascetics who

shaved their heads, as the Buddhist monks did later.

It is one of the most popular of the Upanishads, not

owing to the originality of its contents, which are for the

most part derived from older texts, but owing to the purity

with which it reproduces the old Vedanta doctrine, and

the beauty of the stanzas in which it is composed. It

presupposes, above all, the Chhdndogya Upanishad, and in

all probability the Brihadaranyaka, the Taittirlya, and the

Kathaka. Having several important passages in common

with the ^vetacvatara and the Brihanndrdyana of the Black

Yajurveda, it probably belongs to the same epoch,

coming between the two in order of time. It consists

of three parts, which, speaking generally, deal respectively

with the preparations for the knowledge of

Brahma, the doctrine of Brahma, and the way to

Brahma.

The Pragna Upanishad, written in prose and apparently

belonging to the Pippalada recensi

on of the

Atharva-veda, is so called because it treats, in the form

of questions (pracnd) addressed by six students of

Brahma to the sage Pippalada, six main points of the

UPANISHADS OF THE ATHARVA-VEDA 241

Vedanta doctrine. These questions concern the origin

of matter and life {prdna) from Prajapati ; the superiority

of life {prdna) above the other vital powers ; the

nature and divisions of the vital powers ; dreaming and

dreamless sleep ; meditation on the syllable 0111 ; and

the sixteen parts of man.

Om Tat Sat

                                                        

(Continued...) 

(My humble salutations to  Brahmsree Sreeman  Arthur A. Macdonell  and also my humble greatulness to  great Devotees , Philosophic Scholars  for the collection)