{"collection":"Hinduism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/hin/sbe01/sbe01018.htm","path":"hin/sbe01/sbe01018.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/hin/sbe01/sbe01018.htm","text":"The Upanishads, Part 1 (SBE01), by Max M\u00fcller, [1879]\nTHIS Upanishad is best known by the name of Kena-upanishad, from its first word. The name of br\u00e2hm\u00ee-upanishad (IV, 7) can hardly be considered as a title. It means 'the teaching of Brahman,' and is used with reference to other Upanishads also 1. Sa\u1e45kara, in his commentary, tells us that this Upanishad forms the ninth adhy\u00e2ya of a Br\u00e2hmana, or, if we take his words quite literally, he says, 'the beginning of the ninth adhy\u00e2ya is \"the Upanishad beginning with the words Keneshitam, and treating of the Highest Brahman has to be taught.\"' In the eight preceeding adhy\u00e2yas, he tells us, all the sacred rites or sacrifices had been fully explained, and likewise the meditations (up\u00e2sana) on the pr\u00e2na (vital breath) which belongs to all these sacrifices, and those meditations also which have reference to the fivefold and sevenfold S\u00e2mans. After that followed G\u00e2yatra-s\u00e2man and the Vamsa, the genealogical list. All this would naturally form the subject of a S\u00e2ma-veda-br\u00e2hmana, and we find portions corresponding to the description given by Sa\u1e45kara in the Kh\u00e2ndogya-upanishad, eg. the fivefold S\u00e2man, II, 2; the sevenfold S\u00e2man, II, 8; the G\u00e2yatra-s\u00e2man, III, 12, I.\n\u00c2nandag\u00f1\u00e2na tells us that our Upanishad belonged to the S\u00e2kh\u00e2 of the Talavak\u00e2ras.\nAll this had formerly to be taken on trust, because no Br\u00e2hmana was known containing the Upanishad. Dr. Burnell, however, has lately discovered a Br\u00e2hmana of the S\u00e2ma-veda which comes very near the description given by Sa\u1e45kara. In a letter dated Tanjore, 8th Dec. 1878, he\nwrites: 'It appears to me that you would be glad to know the following about the Kena-upanishad, as it occurs in my MS. of the Talavak\u00e2ra-br\u00e2hmana.\n'The last book but one of this Br\u00e2hmana is termed Upanishad-br\u00e2hmana. It consists of 145 khandas treating of the G\u00e2yatra-s\u00e2man, and the 134th is a Vamsa. The Kena-upanishad comprises the 135-145 khandas, or the tenth anuv\u00e2ka of a chapter. The 139th section begins: \u00e2s\u00e2 v\u00e2 idam agra \u00e2sit, &c.\n'My MS. of the Talavak\u00e2ra-br\u00e2hmana agrees, as regards the contents, exactly with what Sa\u1e45kara says, but not in the divisions. He says that the Kena-upanishad begins the ninth adhy\u00e2ya, but that is not so in my MS. Neither the beginning nor the end of this Upanishad is noticed particularly.\n'The last book of this Br\u00e2hmana is the \u00c2rsheya-br\u00e2hmana, which I printed last February.\n'Among the teachers quoted in the Br\u00e2hmana I have noticed both T\u00e2ndya and S\u00e2ty\u00e2yani. I should not be surprised to find in it the difficult quotations which are incorrectly given in the MSS. of S\u00e2yana's commentary on the Rig-veda. The story of Ap\u00e2l\u00e2, quoted by S\u00e2yana in his commentary on the Rig-veda, VIII, 80, as from the S\u00e2ty\u00e2yanaka, is found word for word, except some trivial var. lectiones, in sections 220-221 of the Agnishtoma book of the Talavak\u00e2ra-br\u00e2hmana. The S\u00e2ty\u00e2yanins seem to be closely connected with the Talavak\u00e2ra-s\u00e2kh\u00e2.'\nFrom a communication made by Dr. Burnell to the Academy (1 Feb. 79), I gather that this Talavak\u00e2ra-br\u00e2hmana is called by those who study it 'Gaimin\u00eeya-br\u00e2hmana,' after the S\u00e2kh\u00e2 of the S\u00e2ma-veda which they follow. The account given in the Academy differs on some particulars slightly from that given in Dr. Burnell's letter to me. He writes: 'The largest part of the Br\u00e2hmana treats of the sacrifices and the S\u00e2mans used at them. The first chapter is on the Agnihotra, and the Agnishtoma and other rites follow at great length. Then comes a book termed Upanishad-br\u00e2hmana. This contains 145 sections in four chapters. It begins with speculations on the G\u00e2yatra-s\u00e2man,\nfollowed by a Vamsa; next, some similar matter and another Vamsa. Then (\u00a7\u00a7 135-138) comes the Kena-upanishad (Talavak\u00e2ra). The last book is the \u00c2rsheya. The Upanishad forms the tenth anuv\u00e2ka of the fourth chapter, not the beginning of a ninth chapter, as Sa\u1e45kara remarks.'\nThe Kena-upanishad has been frequently published and translated. It forms part of D\u00e2r\u00e2 Shukoh's Persian, and Anquetil Duperron's Latin translations. It was several times published in English by Rammohun Roy (Translations of Several Principal Books, Passages, and Texts of the Veda, London, 1832, p. 41), in German by Windischmann, Poley, and others. It has been more or less fully discussed by Colebrooke, Windischmann, Poley, Weber, R\u00f6er, Gough, and Regnaud in the books mentioned before,\nBesides the text of this Upanishad contained in the Br\u00e2hmana of the S\u00e2ma-veda, there is another text, slightly differing, belonging to the Atharva-veda, and there are commentaries on both texts (Colebrooke, Misc. Essays, 1873, II, p. 80).\nlxxxix:1 See before, p. lxxxiii.","title":"The Upanishads, Part 1 (SBE01): Introduction to the Upani...","type":"page"}