Book Title: World of Philosophy
Author(s): Christopher Key Chapple, Intaj Malek, Dilip Charan, Sunanda Shastri, Prashant Dave
Publisher: Shanti Prakashan
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doubted most. The Muktikopanişad (1,30), enlisting ten Upanisads having commentaries of Sankara, excludes Svetāśvatara :
Isakenakathapraśnamundakamāndükyatittirih, Aitareyaṁ ca chāndogyaṁ Brhadāranyakaṁ tathā.
Sankara's commentaries on Bșhadāranyaka and Taittiriya Upanişads are treated as most authentic, as they have the Vārttikas of Sureśvara, a direct disciple of the master, on them.
The name of Prince Dara Shikoh (1615-59) cannot be forgotten while talking about the Upanisads. In fact it is he who is mainly responsible for making the Upanişads known to the outside world, as he got 52 Upanişads translated into Persian around 1657. A couple of Persian manuscripts could be obtained by the French traveller Anquetil du Perron (1731-1805) who prepared a French translation (unpublished) and also a Latin translation of these texts and published them in 1801-2 with the title Oupnek'hat. Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) was enchanted by the philosophy of the Upanisads and thus, Europe, and later on in America (after Swami Vivekananda), became acquainted with this treasure of ours.
Albrecht Weber has presented a five-fold classification of the Upanisads and that seems relevant here. The classification, also adopted by Dr. Paul Deussen (1845-1919), is as follows:
1. Pure Vedānta Upanisads : Mundaka, Praśna, Māndūkya (with the Kārikās of Gaudapāda), Garbha, Prānāgnihotra, Pinda, Atma-prabhodha, Sarvopanisatsāra and Garuda.
II. Yoga Upanisads : Brahma-vidyā, Ksurikā, Cūlikā, Nādabindu, Brahmabindu, Amrtabindu, Dhyānabindu, Tejobindu, śikhā, Yogatattva and Hamsa.
III. Sannyāsa Upanişads : Brahma, Sannyāsa, Aruņeya, Kanthaśruti, Paramahamsa, Jābāla and Aśrama.
IV. Śiva Upanisads : Atharvasiras, Atharvaśikhā, Nīlarudra, Kālāgnirudra and Kaivalya.
V. Visnu Upanisads : Mahā, Nārāyana, Atmabodha, Nrsimhapūrvatāpaniya, Nrsimhottaratāpaniya, Rāmapūrvatāpaniya and Ramottaratāpaniya.
The Upanisads can be classified in various manners, as per the subject
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