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THE UPANISHADS. The Vedas and the Brahmanas in time proved insufficient for securing the hold of the priestly class on the people. The next great group of compositions The were the Upanishads or mystical doctrine. Upanishads. Some of these are contained in a class of writings supplementary to the Brahmanas, known as the Aranyakas, or forest-books, intended for those Brahmans who, after
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RRAHJA, VISHNU, AND SIVA, FROM THE ELLORA CAVES.
having performed all the duties of a student and a householder, retired to the forest to spend their remaining days in contemplation. The word Upanishad is said by native authorities to mean " to set ignorance at rest by revealing the knowledge of the supreme spirit”; its real etymological meaning is a session, especially of pupils round a
