Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c9.3515

c9.3515

UPANIṢAD. The four Vedas are Ṛk, Yajus, Sāma and Atharva. Each of these four has a Brāhmaṇa (a treatise relating to prayer and sacrificial ceremony). Next come the Āraṇyakas (forest texts—writings meant for the forest-dwelling hermit) as appendices to the Brāhmaṇas. Then come the Upaniṣads as appendices to the Āraṇyakas. These four classes of literary works (the Vedas, the Brāhmaṇas, the Āraṇyakas and the Upaniṣads) constitute the Vedic literature proper. The Āraṇyakas and the Upaniṣads are inseparably connected with each other. The Upaniṣads are Vedāntas (the end of the Vedas). The bulk of these Vedāntas belong to different periods anterior to the Later Vedic Period. The students begin the study of Upaniṣads only after having completed the study of the Mantras (Vedic hymns) and the Brāhmaṇas (the ritual).