The History of Indian Literature c8.502

c8.502

First, as regards the Upanishads of the *Vishṇu*-sects,—the oldest form under which Vishṇu is worshipped is *Náráyaṇa*. We find this name for the first time in the second part of the Śatapatha-Bráhmaṇa, where, however, it is not in any way connected with Vishṇu; it rather stands, as at the commencement of Manu and the Vishṇu-Puráṇa, in the sense of Brahman (mascul.). This is also the case in the Náráyaṇíyopanishad of the Taittiríya-Áraṇyaka, and in its Atharvan-recension as Bṛihannáráyaṇopanishad, although in the latter he is at least called Hari, and in one passage brought into direct relation to Vásudeva and Vishṇu. It is in the *Mahá*-Upanishad (62),—a prose tract, which[^asterisk] in its first part contains the emanation of the universe from Náráyaṇa, and in its second a paraphrase of the principal passage of the Náráyaṇíyopanishad,—that Náráyaṇa first distinctly appears as the representative of Vishṇu, since Śúlapáṇi (Śiva) and Brahman proceed from him, and Vishṇu is not mentioned at all. In the *Náráyaṇopanishad* (64, in prose),¹⁸⁷ on the contrary, Vishṇu also emanates from him, exactly as in the Náráyaṇa sectiondagger of the twelfth book of the Mahá-Bhárata (a book which in other respects also is of special significance in relation to the Sámkhya- and Yoga-doctrines). The sacred formula here taught is: *om namo Náráyaṇáya*. There exists of this Upanishad another, probably a later, recension which forms part of the Atharvaśiras to be mentioned hereafter, and in which Devakíputra Madhusúdana is mentioned as particularly *brahmaṇya*, pious, as is also the case in the *Átmaprabodha-Upanishad* (65), which like-