Brihadaranyaka Upanishad
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The Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upanishad is believed to be one of the older, "primary" (mukhya) Upanishads. It is contained within the Shatapatha Brahmana, and its status as an independent Upanishad may be considered a secondary extraction of a portion of the Brahmana text. This makes it one of the oldest (if not the oldest) texts of the Upanishad corpus, possibly dating to as early as the 9th century BCE. It is associated with the Shukla Yajurveda. It figures as number 10 in the Muktika canon of 108 Upanishads and was notably commented upon by Adi Shankara.
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[edit] Content
It is widely known for its philosophical statements, and is ascribed to Yajnavalkya. Its name is literally translated as "great-forest-book". It includes three sections, namely, Madhu Kanda, Muni Kanda (or Yajnavalkya Kanda) and Khila Kanda. The Madhu Kanda explains the teachings of the basic identity of the individual and the Atman. Muni Kanda includes the conversations between the sage Yajnavalkya and his wife, Maitreyi. Various methods of worship and meditation are dealt in the Khila Kanda. The doctrine of "neti neti" ("neither this, nor that") is found in this Upanishad.
[edit] Editions
- Albrecht Weber, The Çatapatha-Brāhmaṇa in the Mādhyandina-Çākhā, with extracts from the commentaries of Sāyaṇa, Harisvāmin and Dvivedānga, Berlin 1849, reprint Chowkhamba Sanskrit Ser., 96, Varanasi 1964.
- Willem Caland, The Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa in the Kāṇvīya Recension, rev. ed. by Raghu Vira, Lahore 1926, repr. Delhi (1983)
- TITUS online edition (based on both Weber and Caland)
[edit] Translations
- Max Müller, Sacred Books of the East (1879) [1]
- R. E. Hume (1921) [2]
- P. Lal, (1974) ISBN 81-7595-400-0
- Swami Nikhilananda (1987) ISBN 0-911206-14-0 [3]
[edit] See also
- Aranyaka
- Sri Aurobindo, The Upanishads [4]. Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry. 1972.
[edit] Literature
Emile Senart , Brihad-Aranyaka Upanishad, Belles Lettres (1967) ISBN 2-251-35301-1
