A History of Indian Literature v1.c8.s9.89

v1.c8.s9.89

foundation for the *Vedānta-Sūtras* of *Bādarāyaṇa*, a work of which a later writer¹ says: "This text-book is the chief of all the text-books. All other text-books serve only as its complement. Therefore all who aim at deliverance, shall exalt it." The theological-philosophical systems of *Śaṅkara* and of *Rāmānuja*, whose adherents at the present day are still counted by millions, are built upon this text-book. Moreover, all other philosophical systems and religions which have arisen in the course of the centuries, the heretical Buddhism no less than the orthodox Brahmanical religion of the post-Buddhist period, have sprung forth from the soil of the Upaniṣad doctrines.