A History of Indian Literature v1.c8.s8.68

v1.c8.s8.68

These non-*Vedic Upaniṣads*, as we may call them, have come down in large collections⁶) which are not ancient as such.) For the philosopher Śaṅkara (about 800 A.D.) still quotes the Upaniṣads as parts of the Veda texts to which they belong; and even Rāmānuja (about 1100 A.D.) speaks of the "Chandogas," the "Vājasaneyins" or the "Kauṣītakins" when quoting the Upaniṣads of the schools in question: the Subāla-Upaniṣad is the only one which he quotes by this title. In the Muktikā-Upaniṣad, which is certainly one of the latest, we read that salvation may be attained by the study of the 108 Upaniṣads, and a list of 108 Upaniṣads is set forth, classified according to the four Vedas: 10 Upaniṣads coming under the Ṛgveda, 19 under the White Yajurveda, 32 under the Black Yajurveda, 16 under the Sāmaveda and 31 under the Atharvaveda. This classification, however, can scarcely be based on an ancient tradition.¹ (All these Upaniṣads which are, properly speaking, non-Vedic, are generally called "Upaniṣads of the Atharvaveda.") They were associated with the Atharvaveda, because the authority of this Veda as sacred tradition was always dubious and it was therefore no difficult matter to associate all kinds of apocryphal texts with the literature belonging to the Atharvaveda. Furthermore, the Atharvaveda, as we have seen, was above all the Veda of magic and the secretiveness connected with it.¹ The real meaning of "Upaniṣad"—and this meaning has never been forgotten—was "secret doctrine." What was more natural than that a large class of works which were regarded as Upaniṣads or secret doctrines, should be joined to the Atharvaveda, which itself was indeed nothing but a collection of secret doctrines!