The History of Indian Literature c8.458

c8.458

I now turn to the most characteristic part of the literature of the Atharvan, viz., the *Upanishads*. Whilst the Upanishads κατ’ ἐξοχὴν so called, of the remaining Vedas all belong to the later, or even the latest, portions of these Vedas, they at least observe a certain limit which they never transgress, that is to say, they keep within the range of inquiry into the nature of the Supreme Spirit, without serving sectarian purposes. The Atharvan Upanishads, on the contrary, come down as far as the time of the Puráṇas, and in their final phases they distinctly enter the lists in behalf of sectarian views. Their number is as yet undetermined. Usually only fifty-two are enumerated. But as among these there are several which are of quite modern date, I do not see why we should separate these fifty-two Upanishads from the remaining similar tracts which, although not contained in the usual list, nevertheless call themselves Upanishads, or Atharvopanishads; more especially as this list varies in part according to the different works where it is found, and as the manuscripts mix up these fifty-two with the remaining Upanishads indiscriminately. Indeed, with regard to the Upanishad literature we have this peculiar state of things, that it may extend down to very recent times, and consequently the number of writings to be reckoned as belonging to it is very considerable. Two years ago, in the second part of the *Indische Studien*, I stated the number at ninety-five, including the Upanishads contained in the older Vedas.∗ The researches instituted by Walter Elliot in Masulipatam among the Telingana Brahmans on this subject have, however, as Dr. Roer writes to me, yielded the result that among these Brahmans there are 123 Upanishads actually extant; and if we include those which they do not possess, but which are contained in my list just referred to, the total is raised to 147.∗ A list of these 123 is given in two of them, viz., in the Mahávákyamuktávalí and in the Muktikopanishad, and is exactly the same in both. According to the statement given above, there must be among these 123 fifty-two† in all which are wanting in my own list, and these include the two names just mentioned.—A Persian translation made in 1656 of fifty Upanishads is extant in Anquetil du Perron's Latin rendering.