A History of Sanskrit Literature c33.s4.1

c33.s4.1

Often closely allied with Vedānta ideas, but, like the developments of that system, powerfully affected by the Sāṁkhya and with strong affinities to the conceptions of which the Yoga philosophy is an ordered exposition, there exists a large mass of theological and mystical speculation. A comparatively early specimen not much distinguished from the Vedānta is the *Yoga-vāsiṣṭha*,¹ which is reputed an appendix to the *Rāmāyaṇa* and deals with all manner of topics, including final release; it is moderately old, as it was summarized in the ninth century by the Gauḍa Abhinanda in the *Yogavāsiṣṭhasāra*. An imitation of the *Mahābhārata*, the *Jaimini Bhārata*,² of which Book xiv, the *Āçvamedhikaparvan*, alone has come down to us, is intended rather as a text-book of a Vaiṣṇava sect.