Ancient Indian Education (Brahmanical and Buddhist) c11.s6.13

c11.s6.13

Thus the *Āraṇyaka* represents the "forest-portion" of the *Brāhmaṇa* and points to the development of forest life as an institution by itself in the social life of the community. It is to this forest-life and to the solitary little sylvan seats of learning that, as Weber so rightly points out, we must chiefly ascribe the depth of speculation, the complete absorption in mystic devotion by which the Hindus are so eminently distinguished, and, accordingly, we find the *Āraṇyakas* bear this character impressed upon them in a most marked degree. In harmony with their prevailing purpose, to offer to the Vānaprastha an equivalent for the sacrificial observances, for the most part no longer practicable, they indulge in mystical interpretations of these, which are then followed up in some of the oldest Upanishads. It should, however, be remembered that, as Max Müller points out, as sacrifices were performed long before a word of any *Brāhmaṇa* or *Sūtra* had been uttered, so metaphysical speculations were carried on in the forests of India long before the names of *Āraṇyaka* or *Upanishad* were thought of.¹