The Upanishads

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The word Upanishad is derived from the Sanskrit verb sad, which means to sit, and two prepositions, upa (under) and ni (at). The sense is thus of sitting for instruction at the feet of a teacher.

The Upanishads are sacred treatises, spiritual and philosophical in nature. Vedic literature is divided into two broad groups. The first is known as karma kanda, the section that deals with rituals and rites. This has the samhllas, that is. Compilations of mantras or hymns. The four samhitas are the Rig Veda, the Sama Veda, the Yajur Veda and the Atharva Veda. The mantras require commentaries as explanations. These are the brahmanas. The samhitas and the brahmanas are together known as karma kanda.

The second section of Vedic literature is Jnana kanda, the part that deals with knowledge. This segment is the spiritual and philosophical part and consists of the aranyakas and the Upanishads.

The earliest Upanishads were probably composed between the years 800 B.C. and 400 B.C. Over the years, the number of Upanishads increased. For example, the Allah Upanishad was composed as late as the sixteenth century, during the reign of Emperor Akbar. There is one particular text that known as the Muktika Upanishad. This lists out the names of 108 different Upanishads. In addition, four more texts are available, so that the total number of texts in circulation is 112. But as mentioned several of these Upanishads are of comparatively recent origin the major Upanishads are ten or eleven number. This is based on the fact that Shankaracharya (800 A.D.) wrote his celebrated commentaries on ten of the Upanishads. These are the first ten Upanishads listed in the accompanying table.

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