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Taittiriya Upanishad
The Taittiriya Upanishad (Sanskrit: तैत्तिरीयोपनिषद्, IAST: Taittirīyopaniṣad) is a Vedic era Sanskrit text, embedded as three chapters (adhyāya) of the Yajurveda. It is a mukhya (primary, principal) Upanishad, and likely composed about 6th century BCE.
The Taittirīya Upanishad is associated with the Taittirīya school of the Yajurveda, attributed to the pupils of sage Vaishampayana. It lists as number 7 in the Muktika canon of 108 Upanishads.
The Taittirīya Upanishad is the seventh, eighth and ninth chapters of Taittirīya Āraṇyaka, which are also called, respectively, the Śikṣāvallī, the Ānandavallī and the Bhṛguvallī. This Upanishad is classified as part of the "waning" Yajurveda, with the term "waning" implying "the un-arranged, motley collection" of verses in Yajurveda, in contrast to the "waxing" (well arranged) Yajurveda where Brihadaranyaka Upanishad and Isha Upanishad are embedded.
The Upanishad includes verses that are partly prayers and benedictions, partly instruction on phonetics and praxis, partly advice on ethics and morals given to graduating students from ancient Vedic gurukula-s (schools), partly a treatise on allegory, and partly philosophical instruction.
Taittiriya is a Sanskrit word that means "from Tittiri". The root of this name has been interpreted in two ways: "from Vedic sage Tittiri", who was the student of Yāska; or alternatively, it being a collection of verses from mythical students who became "partridges" (birds) in order to gain knowledge. The later root of the title comes from the nature of Taittriya Upanishad which, like the rest of "dark or black Yajur Veda", is a motley, confusing collection of unrelated but individually meaningful verses.
Each chapter of the Taittiriya Upanishad is called a Valli (वल्ली), which literally means a medicinal vine-like climbing plant that grows independently yet is attached to a main tree. Paul Deussen states that this symbolic terminology is apt and likely reflects the root and nature of the Taittiriya Upanishad, which too is largely independent of the liturgical Yajur Veda, and is attached to the main text.
Ādi Śaṅkarācārya, the 8th-century Indian Vedic scholar, in his commentary on the Taittirīya Upaniṣad, presents the text as apauruṣeya śruti—having no human author—and regards it as an eternal, authorless revelation within the Vedic tradition.
The chronology of the Taittiriya Upanishad, like much other Vedic era literature, remains unclear, with scholarly views relying on scanty evidence, assumptions about the evolution of ideas, and presumptions about inter-philosophical influence. Stephen Phillips places the Taittiriya among the early Upanishads, composed in the 1st half of the 1st millennium BCE, after the Brihadaranyaka, Chandogya, and Isha, but before Aitareya, Kaushitaki, Kena, Katha, Manduka, Prasna, Svetasvatara, Maitri, and before the earliest Buddhist Pali and Jaina canons. Ranade agrees with Phillips, while Paul Deussen and Winternitz hold similar views but place Taittiriya before the Isha Upanishad, though still after Brihadaranyaka and Chandogya. According to Patrick Olivelle (1998), the text was composed in a pre-Buddhist period, possibly 6th–5th century BCE.
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Taittiriya Upanishad
The Taittiriya Upanishad (Sanskrit: तैत्तिरीयोपनिषद्, IAST: Taittirīyopaniṣad) is a Vedic era Sanskrit text, embedded as three chapters (adhyāya) of the Yajurveda. It is a mukhya (primary, principal) Upanishad, and likely composed about 6th century BCE.
The Taittirīya Upanishad is associated with the Taittirīya school of the Yajurveda, attributed to the pupils of sage Vaishampayana. It lists as number 7 in the Muktika canon of 108 Upanishads.
The Taittirīya Upanishad is the seventh, eighth and ninth chapters of Taittirīya Āraṇyaka, which are also called, respectively, the Śikṣāvallī, the Ānandavallī and the Bhṛguvallī. This Upanishad is classified as part of the "waning" Yajurveda, with the term "waning" implying "the un-arranged, motley collection" of verses in Yajurveda, in contrast to the "waxing" (well arranged) Yajurveda where Brihadaranyaka Upanishad and Isha Upanishad are embedded.
The Upanishad includes verses that are partly prayers and benedictions, partly instruction on phonetics and praxis, partly advice on ethics and morals given to graduating students from ancient Vedic gurukula-s (schools), partly a treatise on allegory, and partly philosophical instruction.
Taittiriya is a Sanskrit word that means "from Tittiri". The root of this name has been interpreted in two ways: "from Vedic sage Tittiri", who was the student of Yāska; or alternatively, it being a collection of verses from mythical students who became "partridges" (birds) in order to gain knowledge. The later root of the title comes from the nature of Taittriya Upanishad which, like the rest of "dark or black Yajur Veda", is a motley, confusing collection of unrelated but individually meaningful verses.
Each chapter of the Taittiriya Upanishad is called a Valli (वल्ली), which literally means a medicinal vine-like climbing plant that grows independently yet is attached to a main tree. Paul Deussen states that this symbolic terminology is apt and likely reflects the root and nature of the Taittiriya Upanishad, which too is largely independent of the liturgical Yajur Veda, and is attached to the main text.
Ādi Śaṅkarācārya, the 8th-century Indian Vedic scholar, in his commentary on the Taittirīya Upaniṣad, presents the text as apauruṣeya śruti—having no human author—and regards it as an eternal, authorless revelation within the Vedic tradition.
The chronology of the Taittiriya Upanishad, like much other Vedic era literature, remains unclear, with scholarly views relying on scanty evidence, assumptions about the evolution of ideas, and presumptions about inter-philosophical influence. Stephen Phillips places the Taittiriya among the early Upanishads, composed in the 1st half of the 1st millennium BCE, after the Brihadaranyaka, Chandogya, and Isha, but before Aitareya, Kaushitaki, Kena, Katha, Manduka, Prasna, Svetasvatara, Maitri, and before the earliest Buddhist Pali and Jaina canons. Ranade agrees with Phillips, while Paul Deussen and Winternitz hold similar views but place Taittiriya before the Isha Upanishad, though still after Brihadaranyaka and Chandogya. According to Patrick Olivelle (1998), the text was composed in a pre-Buddhist period, possibly 6th–5th century BCE.
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