The Philosophy of the Upanishads c6.s2.12

c6.s2.12

In this third period the composition returns again to prose, but a prose which is markedly different from the archaic language of the ancient Upanishads, although it does also take on, especially in the *Maitrâyaṇîya*, an archaic colouring. The style suggests that of the later Sanskrit prose; it is complex, involved, and delights in repetitions. The dependence of the thought on that of the earlier Upanishads is made manifest by numerous quotations and adaptations. That *Pras'na* is later than *Muṇḍaka* is proved by the fact that the latter is quoted in Pr. 3. 5; it is older, however, than *Maitrâyaṇîya*, for it is itself quoted in Maitr. 6. 5. The position of *Mâṇḍûkya* is difficult to determine, owing to its brevity; yet the theory concerning Om in Mâṇḍ. 3 seems to be more advanced than that of Maitr. 6. 4. The greater number of the Upanishads hitherto mentioned have found admission, sometimes with very doubtful right, to a place in the three older Vedas. Only three of them—namely, Muṇḍaka, Pras'na, and Mâṇḍûkya—appear to have belonged from the beginning to the Atharvaveda, the two first-named certainly as the original legitimate Upanishads of this fourth Veda. These two are ascribed to S'aunaka and Pippalâda, the founders of the S'âkhâs of the Atharvaveda. The later collections of Atharva Upanishads begin as a rule with the Muṇḍaka and Pras'na, and these two alone can be proved to have been known to and employed by Bâdarâyaṇa and S'ankara.