The State in Ancient India: A Study in the Structure and Practical Working of Political Institutions in North India in Ancient Times c7.126

c7.126

Some of the features of Hindu polity revealed in the second stage of Vedic compositions are observed in a more highly developed form in the last stage which is represented by the later books of the Aitareya Brâhmaṇa, the Śatapatha and some other Brâhmaṇas and the earlier Upaniṣads such as the Chândogya and Bṛihadāraṇyaka. This class of compositions took shape, roughly speaking between 700 and 500 B.C. The other Upaniṣads, too, form part of Vedic literature, but they are so late in composition that they cannot be dealt with alongside the Brâhmaṇas.