The Philosophy of the Upanishads c9.s1.4

c9.s1.4

The very oldest Upanishad texts take for granted a rich store of literary works (transmitted of course only orally). In Bṛih. 2. 4. 10, for example, it is said:—“Just as, when a fire is laid with damp wood, clouds of smoke spread all around, so in truth from this great Being have been breathed forth the Ṛigveda, the Yajurveda, the Sâmaveda, the (hymns) of the Atharvans and the Angirases, the narratives, the histories, the sciences, the mystical doctrines (upanishads), the poems, the proverbs, the parables, and expositions,—all these have been breathed forth from him.”