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SAMAYASARA
Buddhism. So we can safely mention that the Upanisads, the important of them at least, must be placed earlier than the 5th Century B.C. Can we say anything as to the beginning of these Upanisdas? The period generally accepted by Orientalists is about 1000 B. C. Hence the duration from 1000 to 500 B.C. would probably represent the period when the Upniṣads were composed.
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The Origin of the Upanisads-An interesting controversy is associated with the origin of the Upanisads. We need not emphasise the fact that the Brahma Vidya of the Upanisads is quite opposed to Vedic ritualism based upon sacrifice. The question therefore arises, "How could this theosophic speculation be logically connected with the Vedic form of ceremonialism ?" Many important passages in the earlier Upanisads supply us with a clue. Thus in the Chandogya we find five learned Brahmins requesting one Oudgalya to instruct them concerning the Atman he confessing inability takes them to Aśvapati Kaikeya to whom all the six appeal for initiation into the Atmavidya. Again in Bṛhadaranyaka the famous scholar Gargya offers to expound the knowledge of Brahman to the king Ajàtasatru of Kāśī. But his explanation is rejected by the king as erroneous whereupon the Vedic scholar presents himself as a disciple to the king to be instructed in the knowledge of Atinan. The king does accor dingly prefacing his exposition with the remarks that it is a reversal of the rule for a Brahmin to enter himself as a pupil under a Kṣatriya in order to have Brahma knowledge expounded to him. Again in the Chandegya, a king figures as the teacher to a priest whom he addresses as follows:-"Oh Gautama! This doctrine has never upto the present time been in circulation among the Brahmins. Therefore in all the world the Government has remained with the warrior caste." From these passages scholars like Deussen and Garbe conclude with a very high degree of probability that the doctrine of the Atman standing as it did in such sharp contrast to all the principles of Vedic ritual was taken up and cultivated primarily not in the Brahmin but in the Ksatriya circle and was adopted by the former in later times. As against this view it is contended that Brahma Vidya had its origin in the earlier Vedic literature itself and that the Brahmins themselves had as much to do with it as the Ksatriyas. In order to understand the full significance of this controversy we have to. remember certain important and relevant facts.
Even earlier than the Upanisadic period, in the period of Brahmaņas we have traces of rivalry between Brahmins and Kṣatriyas. We need not go back to the legendary period of Visvamitra vs. Vasistha, when the former asserted his equality of status with the latter. What is contained in the Brāhmaṇa literature is much more historical than such legendary anecdotes.
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