View source for Principal Upanishads

{{Short description|Most ancient and widely studied Upanishads of Hinduism}}
{{Redirect|Mukhya||Mukhia (disambiguation)}}
{{Upanishads}}
'''Principal Upanishads''', also known as '''Mukhya Upanishads''', are the most ancient and widely studied [[Upanishads]] of [[Hinduism]]. Composed between 800 BCE to the start of common era, these texts are connected to the [[Vedas|Vedic]] tradition.<ref name="Mahony1998p271">{{cite book|author=William K. Mahony|title=The Artful Universe: An Introduction to the Vedic Religious Imagination|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B1KR_kE5ZYoC |year=1998|publisher=State University of New York Press |isbn=978-0-7914-3579-3 |page=271}}</ref>

==Content==
The Principal Upanishads, which were composed probably between 600 and 300 BCE, constitute the concluding portion of the Veda.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Brereton |first=Joel |title=The Upanishads |publisher=[[Columbia University Press]] |year=1990 |isbn=0231070047 |editor-last=de Bary |editor-first=William Theodore |location=New York |pages=115–135 |editor-last2=Bloom |editor-first2=Irene}}</ref> According to most Hindu traditions, ten Upanishads are considered as Principal Upanishads, but some scholars include [[Shvetashvatara Upanishad|{{IAST|Śvetāśvatara}}]], [[Kaushitaki Upanishad|{{IAST|Kauṣītaki}}]] and [[Maitri Upanishad|{{IAST|Maitrāyaṇīya}}]] into the list.<ref>{{cite book|author=John G. Arapura |title=Gnosis and the Question of Thought in Vedānta: Dialogue with the Foundations| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T_zrCAAAQBAJ | year=2012|publisher=Springer |isbn=978-94-009-4339-1 |page=57}}; '''Quote:''' "These are the Isa, Kena, Katha, Prasna, Mundaka, Mandukya, Aitareya, Taittiriya, Brhadaranyaka, Chandogya and Svetasvatara. To this list is usually added the Kausitaki and Maitrayaniya (or Maitri) to make the thirteen Principal Upanishads, a canon which has found favour with most scholars of the present day."</ref><ref>{{citation|first=Robert Ernest|last=Hume|url=https://archive.org/details/thirteenprincipa028442mbp |title=The Thirteen Principal Upanishads|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1921}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Edward Fitzpatrick Crangle|title=The Origin and Development of Early Indian Contemplative Practices|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HOzdcIxJy2sC |year=1994|publisher=Otto Harrassowitz Verlag|isbn=978-3-447-03479-1|pages=8, 12}}</ref> The founders of the major schools of [[Vedanta]], viz., [[Adi Shankara]] and [[Madhvacharya]] wrote {{IAST|bhāṣyas}} (''commentaries'') on these ten Principal Upanishads. Even though [[Ramanuja]] did not write individual commentaries on Principal Upanishads, he quoted many hundreds of quotations from Upanishads in his [[Sri Bhasya]]. In the Ramanuja lineage, one of his followers, Rangaramanuja, wrote commentaries on almost all of the Principal Upanishads around the 1600s.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4rW8nLogjekC&pg=PA32|title=Sri Ramanuja|author=Madabhushini Narasimhacharya|publisher=Sahitya Akademi|year=2004|page=32|isbn=9788126018338|quote=As for Ramanuja, his commentary on the Gita and the Brahmasutra are quite well known as conforming to this practice . But he did not write any regular commentary on the Upanishads as other philosophers like, say, Sankara and Anandatirtha (Madhva) did.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Yoga, Karma, and Rebirth: A Brief History and Philosophy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uLqrAgAAQBAJ|page=309|author=Stephen Phillips|publisher=Columbia University Press|date=26 June 2009|isbn = 9780231144858}}</ref>

The ten Principal Upanishads are:

#[[Isha Upanishad|{{IAST|Īśā}}]] (IsUp), Yajurveda
#[[Kena Upanishad|{{IAST|Kena}}]] (KeUp), Samaveda
#[[Katha Upanishad|{{IAST|Kaṭha}}]] (KaUp), Yajurveda
#[[Prashna Upanishad|{{IAST|Praśna}}]] (PrUp), Atharvaveda
#[[Mundaka Upanishad|{{IAST|Muṇḍaka}}]] (MuUp), Atharvaveda
#[[Mandukya Upanishad|{{IAST|Māṇḍūkya}}]] (MaUp), Atharvaveda
#[[Taittiriya Upanishad|{{IAST|Taittirīya}}]] (TaiUp), Yajurveda
#[[Aitareya Upanishad|{{IAST|Aitareya}}]], (AiUp), Rigveda
#[[Chandogya Upanishad|{{IAST|Chāndogya}}]] (ChhUp),  Samaveda
#[[Brihadaranyaka Upanishad|{{IAST|Bṛhadāraṇyaka}}]] (BṛUp), Yajurveda

The Principal Upanishads are accepted as [[śruti]] by all Hindus, or the most important scriptures of Hinduism.<ref>{{cite book|author=Kim Knott|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-Ts6CwAAQBAJ|title=Hinduism: A Very Short Introduction|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2016|isbn=978-0-19-874554-9|pages=12–13}}</ref> The Principal Upanishads are separated into three categories: prose ({{IAST|Taittirīya}}, {{IAST|Aitareya}}, {{IAST|Chāndogya}}, {{IAST|Bṛhadāraṇyaka}}), verse ({{IAST|Īśā}}, {{IAST|Kaṭha}}, {{IAST|Muṇḍaka}}), and prose (classical [[Sanskrit]]) ({{IAST|Māṇḍūkya}}).<ref name=":0" />

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book|title=Sixty Upanishads of the Veda|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.191073|last=Deussen|first=Paul|publisher=[[Motilal Banarsidass|Motilal Banarsidass Publications]]|year=1897|isbn=9788120814684}}
* {{cite book|title=The Beginnings of Indian Philosophy|url=https://archive.org/details/beginningsofindi0000edge|last=Edgerton|first=Franklin|publisher=[[Harvard University Press|Cambridge: Harvard University Press]]|year=1965|isbn=9780674064003}}
* {{cite book|first=Robert Ernest|last=Hume|url=https://archive.org/details/thirteenprincipa028442mbp |title=The Thirteen Principal Upanishads|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|year=1921|isbn=9780195637434}}
* {{cite book|first=Charles|last=Johnston|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hZUBBQAAQBAJ |title=The Mukhya Upanishads|publisher=Kshetra Books|year=2014|orig-year= 1920-1931|isbn=<!--9781495946530-->9780195637434}}
* {{cite book|first=Sarvapalli|last=Radhakrishnan |author-link = Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan|year=1994|url=https://archive.org/stream/PrincipalUpanishads/129481965-The-Principal-Upanishads-by-S-Radhakrishnan#page/n15/mode/2up |title=The Principal Upanishads|location=New Delhi|publisher=[[HarperCollins Publishers]]|isbn=9788172231248|orig-year= 1953}}
* {{Cite book|title=Eight Upanishads With the Commentary of Shankaracharya|url=https://archive.org/details/eight-upanishads-with-the-commentary-of-s-swami-gambhirananda|last=Swami Gambhirananda|publisher=[[Advaita Ashrama Publications|Advaita Ashrama, Kolkata]]|year=1957|isbn=8175050152}}
* {{Cite book|title=The Ten Principal Upanishads|last1=Yeats|first1=William Butler|publisher=Repro Books Limited|year=1938|isbn=9788129100740|url=https://archive.org/details/TheTenPrincipalUpanishads|last2=Shri Purohit Swami}}

{{Hindudharma}}
{{Indian Philosophy}}

[[Category:Upanishads]]