Skip over navigation
Reference Center
Encyclopedia
Dictionary
Thesaurus
Columbia Encyclopedia entry: Upanishads
Upanishadsoopăn'ĭshădz, speculative and mystical scriptures of Hinduism, regarded as the wellspring of Hindu religious and speculative thought. The Upanishads, which form the last section of the literature of the Veda, were composed beginning c.900 B.C. Of the 112 extant Upanishads, about 13 date from the Vedic period and the remainder are later, sectarian works. The principal early Upanishads develop answers to questions posed in the Rig-Veda and the Brahmanas regarding the real significance of the Vedic sacrifice and the source and controlling power of the world and the individual. They are best known for their doctrine of brahman, the ultimate and universal reality of pure being and consciousness, and the identity of brahman with the inner essence, or atman, of the human being. This equation is expressed in the famous utterances That art thou and All this is brahman. The Upanishads are not a systematic exposition of concepts but a heterogeneous compilation of material from different sources. In addition to brahman-atman teachings, they contain information about allegorical interpretation of the sacrifice, death and rebirth processes, and yogic practice and experience. They are the basis for the later philosophical schools of Vedanta.

For bibliography see Veda.

The Columbia Encyclopedia. Copyright © 2001-10 Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

Wikipedia search results for: Upanishads
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Upanishads are philosophical texts of the Hindu religion. More than 200 are known, of which the first dozen or so, the oldest and most important, are variously referred to as the principal, main or old. The oldest of these, the Brihadaranyaka and Chandogya, were composed during the pre-Buddhist era of India. while the Taittiriya, Aitareya and Kausitaki, which show Buddhist influence, must have been composed after the fifth century BC: the remainder of the mukhya Upanishads are dated to the first two centuries of the common era. The new were composed in the medieval and early modern period: discoveries of newer were being...more »
Columbia Encyclopedia search results: Upanishads
Results 1 - 10  of 12
  • Brahman

    Brahman or Brahmin. In the Upanishads, Brahman is the name for the ultimate, unchanging reality, composed of pure being and consciousness. Brahman lies behind the apparent multiplicity of the ...

  • Vedanta

    Vedanta, one of the six classical systems of Indian philosophy. The term Vedanta has the literal meaning the end of the Veda and refers both to the teaching of the Upanishads, which constitute...

  • Hindu philosophy

    Hindu philosophy, the philosophical speculations and systems of India that have their roots in Hinduism. Hindu philosophy began in the period of the Upanishads (900–500 B.C.), but systematic p...

  • Shiva

    Shiva or Siva, one of the greatest gods of Hinduism, also called Mahadeva. The horned god and phallic worship of the Indus valley civilization may have been a prototype of Shiva worship or Sha...

  • Anquetil-Duperron, Abraham Hyacinthe

    Anquetil-Duperron, Abraham Hyacinthe, 1731–1805, French Orientalist. He gave up studying for the priesthood to pursue his deep interest in Eastern languages. In India (1755–61) he learned Pers...

  • world soul

    World soul, Lat. anima mundi, in philosophy, term denoting a universal spirit or soul that functions as an organizing principle. While many early Greek philosophers saw the world as of one pri...

  • Veda

    Veda [Sanskrit,=knowledge, cognate with English wit, from a root meaning know], oldest scriptures of Hinduism and the most ancient religious texts in an Indo-European language. The authority o...

  • Bhagavad-Gita

    Bhagavad-Gita [Skt.,=song of the Lord], Sanskrit poem incorporated into the Mahabharata, one of the greatest religious classics of Hinduism. The Gita (as it is often called) consists of a dial...

  • Radhakrishnan, Sarvepalli

    Radhakrishnan, Sarvepalli, 1888–1975, Indian philosopher, president of India (1962–67). The main part of his life was spent as an academic; he was a philosophy professor at Mysore (1918–21) an...

  • Hinduism

    Hinduism, Western term for the religious beliefs and practices of the vast majority of the people of India. One of the oldest living religions in the world, Hinduism is unique among the world ...

1 2 Next

Related Encyclopedia Matches

Toggle Results

Video Results

powered by Truveo
more video »
Toggle Results

Reference Center To Go

Get Dictionary at your fingertips!

Download the Toolbar Now
About This Page | Browse Directory | Tell Us What You Think
© 2010 ReferenceCenter.com. All Rights Reserved.
powered by AOL Search