{"collection":"Hinduism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/hin/sbe01/sbe01020.htm","path":"hin/sbe01/sbe01020.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/hin/sbe01/sbe01020.htm","text":"The Upanishads, Part 1 (SBE01), by Max M\u00fcller, [1879]\nTHE Kaush\u00eetaki-upanishad, or, as it is more properly called, the Kaush\u00eetaki-br\u00e2hmana-upanishad, belongs, like the Aitareya-upanishad, to the followers of the Rig-veda. It was translated into Persian under the title of Kokhenk, and has been published in the Bibliotheca Indica, with Sa\u1e45kar\u00e2nanda's commentary and an excellent translation by Professor Cowell.\nThough it is called the Kaush\u00eetaki-br\u00e2hmana-upanishad, it does not form part of the Kaush\u00eetaki-br\u00e2hmana in 30 adhy\u00e2yas which we possess, and we must therefore account for its name by admitting that the \u00c2ranyaka, of which it formed a portion, could be reckoned as part of the Br\u00e2hmana literature of the Rig-veda (see Aitareya-\u00e2ranyaka, Introduction, p. xcii), and that hence the Upanishad might be called the Upanishad of the Br\u00e2hmana of the Kaush\u00eetakins 2.\nFrom a commentary discovered by Professor Cowell it appears that the four adhy\u00e2yas of this Upanishad\nwere followed by five other adhy\u00e2yas, answering, so far as we can judge from a few extracts, to some of the adhy\u00e2yas of the Aitareya-\u00e2ranyaka, while an imperfect MS. of an \u00c2ranyaka in the Royal Library at Berlin (Weber, Catalogue, p.20) begins, like the Aitareya-\u00e2ranyaka, with a description of the Mah\u00e2vrata, followed by discussions on the uktha in the second adhy\u00e2ya; and then proceeds in the third adhy\u00e2ya to give the story of Kitra G\u00e2\u1e45gy\u00e2yani in the same words as the Kaush\u00eetaki-upanishad in the first adhy\u00e2ya. Other MSS. again adopt different divisions. In one MS. of the commentary (MS. A), the four adhy\u00e2yas of the Upanishad are counted as sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth (ending with ity\u00e2ranyake navamo 'dhy\u00e2yah); in another (MS. P) the third and fourth adhy\u00e2yas of the Upanishad are quoted as the fifth and sixth of the Kaush\u00eetaky\u00e2ranyaka, possibly agreeing therefore, to a certain extent, with the Berlin MS. In a MS. of the S\u00e2\u1e45kh\u00e2yana \u00c2ranyaka in the Royal Library at Berlin, there are 15 adhy\u00e2yas, 1 and 2 corresponding to Ait. \u00c2r. 1 and 5; 3-6 containing the Kaush\u00eetaki-upanishad; 7 and 8 corresponding to Ait. \u00c2r. 3 1. Poley seems to have known a MS. in which the four adhy\u00e2yas of the Upanishad formed the first, seventh, eighth, and ninth adhy\u00e2yas of a Kaush\u00eetaki-br\u00e2hmana.\nAs there were various recensions of the Kaush\u00eetaki-br\u00e2hmana (the S\u00e2\u1e45kh\u00e2yana, Kauthuma, &c.), the Upanishad also exists in at least two texts. The commentator, in some of its MSS., refers to the various readings of the S\u00e2kh\u00e2s, explaining them, whenever there seems to be occasion for it. I have generally followed the text which is presupposed by Sa\u1e45kar\u00e2nanda's D\u00eepik\u00e2, and contained in MSS. F, G (Cowell, Preface, p. v), so far as regards the third and fourth adhy\u00e2yas. According to Professor Cowell, Vidy\u00e2ranya in his Sarvopanishadarth\u00e2nubh\u00fbtiprak\u00e2sa followed the text of the commentary, while Sankar\u00e2k\u00e2rya, if we may trust to extracts in his commentary on the Ved\u00e2nta-s\u00fbtras, followed the other text, contained in MS. A (Cowell, Preface, p. v).\nThe style of the commentator differs in so marked a manner from that of Sa\u1e45kar\u00e2k\u00e2rya, that even without the fact that the author of the commentary on the Kaush\u00eetaki-upanishad is called Sa\u1e45kar\u00e2nanda, it would have been difficult to ascribe it, as has been done by some scholars, to the famous Sa\u1e45kar\u00e2nanda. Sa\u1e45kar\u00e2nanda is called the teacher of M\u00e2dhav\u00e2k\u00e2rya (Hall, Index, p. 98), and the disciple of \u00c2nand\u00e2tma Muni (Hall, Index, p. 116).\nI have had the great advantage of being able to consult for the Kaush\u00eetaki-upanishad, not only the text and commentary as edited by Professor Cowell, but also his excellent translation. If I differ from him in some points, this is but natural, considering the character of the text and the many difficulties that have still to be solved, before we can hope to arrive at a full understanding of these ancient philosophical treatises.\nxcviii:2 A Mah\u00e2-kaush\u00eetaki-br\u00e2hmana is quoted, but has not yet been met with.\nxcix:1 See Weber, History of Sanskrit Literature, p. 50.","title":"The Upanishads, Part 1 (SBE01): Introduction to the Upanishads: IV. The Kaush\u00eetaki-Br\u00e2hmana-Upanishad","type":"page"}