{"collection":"Hinduism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/hin/sbe01/sbe01017.htm","path":"hin/sbe01/sbe01017.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/hin/sbe01/sbe01017.htm","text":"The Upanishads, Part 1 (SBE01), by Max M\u00fcller, [1879]\nTHE Kh\u00e2ndogya-upanishad belongs to the S\u00e2ma-veda. Together with the Brihad-\u00e2ranyaka, which belongs to the Yagur-veda, it has contributed the most important materials to what may be called the orthodox philosophy of India, the Ved\u00e2nta 1, i.e. the end, the purpose, the highest object of the Veda. It consists of eight adhy\u00e2yas or lectures, and formed part of a Kh\u00e2ndogya-br\u00e2hmana, in which it was preceded by two other adhy\u00e2yas. While MSS. of the Kh\u00e2ndogya-upanishad and its commentary are frequent, no MSS. of the whole Br\u00e2hmana has been met with in Europe. Several scholars had actually doubted its existence, but Rajendralal Mitra 2, in the Introduction to his translation of the Kh\u00e2ndogya-upanishad, states that in India 'MSS. of the work are easily available, though as yet he has seen no commentary attached to the Br\u00e2hmana portion of any one of them.' 'According to general acceptation,'\nhe adds, 'the work embraces ten chapters, of which the first two are reckoned to be the Br\u00e2hmana, and the rest is known under the name of Kh\u00e2ndogya-upanishad. In their arrangement and style the two portions differ greatly, and judged by them they appear to be productions of very different ages, though both are evidently relics of pretty remote antiquity. Of the two chapters of the Kh\u00e2ndogya-br\u00e2hmana 1, the first includes eight s\u00fbktas (hymns) on the ceremony of marriage, and the rites necessary to be observed at the birth of a child. The first s\u00fbktas is intended to be recited when offering an oblation to Agni on the occasion of a marriage, and its object is to pray for prosperity in behalf of the married couple. The second prays for long life, kind relatives, and a numerous progeny. The third is the marriage pledge by which the contracting parties bind themselves to each other. Its spirit may be guessed from a single verse. In talking of the unanimity with which they will dwell, the bridegroom addresses his bride, \"That heart of thine shall be mine, and this heart of mine shall be thine 2.\" The fourth and the fifth invoke Agni, V\u00e2yu, Kandramas, and S\u00fbrya to bless the couple and ensure healthful progeny. The sixth is a mantra for offering an oblation on the birth of a child; and the seventh and the eighth are prayers for its being healthy, wealthy, and powerful, not weak, poor, or mute, and to ensure a profusion of wealth and milch-cows. The first s\u00fbkta of the second chapter is addressed to the Earth, Agni, and Indra, with a prayer for wealth, health, and prosperity; the second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth are mantras for offering oblations to cattle, the manes, S\u00fbrya, and divers minor deities. The seventh is a curse upon worms, insects, flies, and other nuisances, and the last, the concluding mantra of the marriage ceremony, in which a general blessing is invoked for all concerned.'\nAfter this statement there can be but little doubt that\nthis Upanishad originally formed part of a Br\u00e2hmana. This may have been called either by a general name, the Br\u00e2hmana of the Khandogas, the followers of the S\u00e2ma-veda, or, on account of the prominent place occupied in it by the Upanishad, the Upanishad-br\u00e2hmana 1. In that case it would be one of the eight Br\u00e2hmanas of the S\u00e2ma-veda, enumerated by Kum\u00e2rila Bhatta and others 2, and called simply Upanishad, scil. Br\u00e2hmana.\nThe text of the Upanishad with the commentary of Sa\u1e45kara and the gloss of \u00c2nandagiri has been published in the Bibliotheca Indica. The edition can only claim the character of a manuscript, and of a manuscript not always very correctly read.\nA translation of the Upanishad was published, likewise in the Bibliotheca Indica, by Rajendralal Mitra.\nIt is one of the Upanishads that was translated into Persian under the auspices of D\u00e2r\u00e2 Shukoh 3, and from Persian into French by Anquetil Duperron, in his Oupnekhat, i.e. Secretum Tegendum. Portions of it were translated into English by Colebrooke in his Miscellaneous Essays, into Latin and German by F. W. Windischmann, in his Sa\u1e45kara, seu de theologumenis Vedanticorum. (Bonn, 1833), and in a work published by his father, K. J. H. Windischmann, Die Philosophie im Fortgang der Weltgeschichte (Bonn, 1827-34). Professor A. Weber has treated of this Upanishad in his Indische Studien I, 254; likewise M. P. Regnaud in his Mat\u00e9riaux pour servir \u00e0 l'histoire dc la philosophie de l'Inde (Paris, 1876) and Mr. Gough in several articles on 'the Philosophy of the Upanishads,' in the Calcutta Review, No. CXXXI.\nI have consulted my predecessors whenever there was a serious difficulty to solve in the translation of these ancient texts. These difficulties are very numerous, as those know\nbest who have attempted to give complete translations of these ancient texts. It will be seen that my translation differs sometimes very considerably from those of my predecessors. Though I have but seldom entered into any controversy with them, they may rest assured that I have not deviated from them without careful reflection.\nlxxxvi:1 Ved\u00e2nta, as a technical term, did not mean originally the last portions of the Veda, or chapters placed, as it were, at the end of a volume of Vedic literature, but the end, i. e. the object, the highest purpose of the Veda. There are, of course, passages, like the one in the Taittir\u00eeya-\u00e2ranyaka (ed. Rajendralal Mitra, p. 820), which have been misunderstood both by native and European scholars, and where ved\u00e2nta means simply the end of the Veda:--yo ved\u00e2dau svarah prokto ved\u00e2nte ka pratishthitah, 'the Om which is pronounced at the beginning of the Veda, and has its place also at the end of the Veda.' Here ved\u00e2nta stands simply in opposition to ved\u00e2dau, and it is impossible to translate it, as S\u00e2yana does, by Ved\u00e2nta or Upanishad. Ved\u00e2nta, in the sense of philosophy, occurs in the Taittir\u00eeya-\u00e2ranyaka (p. 817), in a verse of the Nar\u00e2yan\u00eeya-upanishad, repeated in the Mundaka-upanishad III, 2, 6, and elsewhere, ved\u00e2ntavig\u00f1\u00e2nasuniskit\u00e2r\u00e2h, 'those who have well understood the object of the knowledge arising from the Ved\u00e2nta,' not 'from the last books of the Veda;' and Svet\u00e2svatara-up. VI, 22, ved\u00e2nte paramam guhyam, 'the highest mystery in the Ved\u00e2nta.' Afterwards it is used in the plural also, e. g. Kshurikopanishad, 10 (Bibl. Ind. p. 210), pundar\u00eeketi ved\u00e2nteshu nigadyate, 'it is called pundar\u00eeka in the Ved\u00e2ntas,' i. e. in the Kh\u00e2ndogya and other Upanishads, as the commentator says, but not in the last books of each Veda. A curious passage is found in the Gautama-s\u00fbtras XIX, 12, where a distinction seems to be made between Upanishad and Ved\u00e2nta. Sacred Books, vol. ii, p. 272.\nlxxxvi:2 Kh\u00e2ndogya-upanishad, translated by Rajendralal Mitra, Calcutta, 1862, Introduction, p. 17.\nlxxxvii:1 It begins, Om, deva savitah, pra Suva yag\u00f1am pra suva yag\u00f1apatim bhag\u00e2ya. The second begins, yah pr\u00e2ky\u00e2m disi sarpar\u00e2ga esha te balih.\nlxxxvii:2 Yad etad dhridayam tava tad astu hridayam mama, Yad idam hridayam mama tad astu hridayam tava.\nlxxxviii:1 The same name seems, however, to be given to the adhy\u00e2ya of the Talavak\u00e2ra-br\u00e2hmana, which contains the Kena-upanishad.\nlxxxviii:2 M. M., History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature, p. 348. Most valuable information on the literature of the S\u00e2ma-veda may be found in Dr. Burnell's editions of the smaller Br\u00e2hmanas of that Veda.\nlxxxviii:3 M. M., History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature, p. 325.","title":"The Upanishads, Part 1 (SBE01): Introduction to the Upanishads: I. The Kh\u00e2ndogya-Upanishad","type":"page"}