Vinaya Texts

SR No.: 007684
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: T W Rhys Davids, Hermann Oldenberg
Publisher: Oxford
Publication Year: 1881
Total Pages: 2523
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 47 MB

Page 460

xliv
UPANISHADS.
the German Oriental Society, called it, No. 104, Maitrayana or Maitri-upanishad, i.e. either the Upanishad of the Maitrayanas, or the Upanishad of Maitri, the principal teacher.
In a MS. which I received from Dr. Burnell, the title of our Upanishad is Maitråyani-brâhmana-upanishad, varying with Maitrâyanî-brâhmana-upanishad, and Srîyagussâkhâyâm Maitrầyanîya-brâhmana-upanishad.
The next question is by what name this Upanishad is quoted by native authorities. Vidyâranya, in his Sarvopanishad-arthânubhùtiprakâsa”, v. 1, speaks of the Maitråyanîyanâmnî yâgushî sâkhâ, and he mentions Maitra (not Maitri) as the author of that Sakha (v. 55, 150).
In the Muktika-upanishad? we meet with the name of Maitrâyanî as the twenty-fourth Upanishad, with the name of Maitreyî as the twenty-ninth; and again, in the list of the sixteen Upanishads of the Sâma-veda, we find Maitråyanî and Maitreyî as the fourth and fifth
Looking at all this evidence, I think we should come to the conclusion that our Upanishad derives its name from the Sâkhâ of the Maitrayanas, and may therefore be called Maitrayana-upanishad or Maitrậyanî Upanishad. Maitrâyana-brâhmana-upanishad seems likewise correct, and Maitrầyani-brâhmana - Upanishad, like Kaushîtaki-brâhmana-upanishad and Vagasaneyi-samnhitopanishad, might be defended, if Maitrâyanin were known as a further derivative of Maitrâyana. If the name is formed from the teacher Maitri or Maitra, the title of Maitri-upanishad would also be correct, but I doubt whether Maitrî-upanishad would admit of any grammatical justification 3.
Besides this Maitrayana-brâhmana-upanishad, however, I possess a MS. of what is called the Maitreyopanishad, sent to me likewise by the late Dr. Burnell. It is very short, and contains no more than the substance of the first Prapathaka of the Maitrầyana-brâhmana-upanishad. I give
1 See Cowell, Maitr. Up. Pref. p. iv. ? Calcutta, 1791 (1869), p. 4; also as quoted in the Mahâvâkya-ratnâvali, p. 26.
: Dr. Burnell, in his Tanjore Catalogue, mentions, p. 35o, a Maitrậyanibrâhmanopanishad, which can hardly be a right title, and p. 366 a Maitrayaniya and Maitreyğbrâhmana.
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