The History of Indian Literature c8.110

c8.110

The Kaushítakáraṇyaka, in its present form, consists of three books; but it is uncertain whether it is complete.³⁷ It was only recently that I lighted upon the two first books.∗ These deal rather with ritual than with speculation. The third book is the so-called *Kaushítaky-Upanishad*,† a work of the highest interest and importance. Its first *adhyáya* gives us an extremely important account of the ideas held with regard to the path to, and arrival in, the world of the blessed, the significance of which in relation to similar ideas of other races is not yet quite apparent, but it promises to prove very rich in information. The second *adhyáya* gives us in the ceremonies which it describes, amongst other things, a very pleasing picture of the warmth and tenderness of family ties at that period. The third *adhyáya* is of inestimable value in connection with the history and development of the epic myth, inasmuch as it represents Indra battling with the same powers of nature that Arjuna in the epic subdues as evil demons. Lastly, the fourth *adhyáya* contains the second recension of a legend which also appears, under a somewhat different form, in the Áraṇyaka of the White Yajus, the legend, namely, of the instruction of a Brahman, who is very wise in his own esteem, by a warrior called Ajátaśatru, king of Káśi. This Upanishad is also peculiarly rich in geographical data, throwing light upon its origin. Thus the name of Chitra Gáṅgyáyani, the wise king in the first *adhyáya* who instructs Áruṇi, clearly points to the Gaṅgá. According to ii. 10, the northern and southern mountains, *i.e.*, Himavant and Vindhya, enclose in the eyes of the author the whole of the known world, and the list of the neighbouring tribes in iv. 1 perfectly accords with this. That, moreover, this Upanishad is exactly contemporaneous with the Vṛihad-Áraṇyaka of the White Yajus is proved by the position of the names Áruṇi, Śvetaketu, Ajátaśatru, Gárgya Báláki, and by the identity of the legends about the latter. [See *I. St.*, i. 392–420.]