Created by Jijith Nadumuri at 17 Oct 2011 08:48 and updated at 01 May 2012 12:48
Upanishads are philosophical texts of Hinduism, that shows the depth of Hindu religion which is famous for its spread in terms of variety in ideas and concepts. Through Upanishads Hindu religion has reached the highest point of self-realization where no religion has ever gone. It contains the finest and highest thoughts humanity has ever thought. It is the highest point of theology humanity has ever seen or known. There are close to 200 known Upanishads authored as close as the first half of 20th century. Of this 108 are famous and completed by 16th century CE. Of this 10 are the most famous Dasopanishads completed before 1st century CE. Of this Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (700 BCE) and Chandogya Upanishad (600 BCE) are the oldest and the largest. Yet they each are 1/100th the size of Mahabharata.
Table of Contents
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Ten Main Upanishads
The table shown below summarizes the ten major Upanishads popularly known as Dasopanishads and as Mukhyopanishads. All of them except Mandukya Upanishad was translated to English by Max Muller. The period in which these Upanishads were authored or completed is not firmly known. The periods shown in the table below are tentative and may change subjected to further research. Each of them are associated with one of the four Vedas as Upanishads forms the final part of the Vedic tradition, that include the four Veda Samhitas and subsequent Brahmana and Aranyaka texts. An Upanishad usually forms the last parts of a Brahmana text or an Aranyaka text associated with a Veda Samhita (Rig, Sama, Yajus, Atharva).
n | Name | TopTen | Muller | Veda | Period | Period | Period | Size |
1 | Brihadaranyaka | Y | Y | Yajur S | Oldest | Brahmana | 700 BCE | 170 |
2 | Chandogya | Y | Y | Sama | Old | Brahmana | 650 BCE | 160 |
3 | Kena | Y | Y | Sama | Old | Brahmana | 600 BCE | 8 |
4 | Katha | Y | Y | Yajur K | Middle | Sutra | 500 BCE | 24 |
5 | Taittariya | Y | Y | Yajur K | Late | Buddhist | 400 BCE | 28 |
6 | Aitareya | Y | Y | Rig | Late | Buddhist | 400 BCE | 11 |
7 | Ishavasya | Y | Y | Yajur S | Late | Mauryan | 300 BCE | 4 |
8 | Prasna | Y | Y | Atharva | Late | IndoGreek | 200 BCE | 19 |
9 | Mundaka | Y | Y | Atharva | Late | IndoGreek | 200 BCE | 18 |
10 | Mandukya | Y | Atharva | Latest | Maha.Bud | 100 BCE | 4 |
Brihadaranyaka is the oldest and was created what is now called the Brahmana period of Vedic literature tradition. Similarly Chandogya and Kena too are assumed to be authored during the Brahmana period. Katha Upanishad emerged in the middle period which is considered as the Sutra period. Other Upanishads are authored later but before the Common Era, which is divided as Buddist, Indo-Greek and Mahyana Buddist period.
Size Index is an index generated based on the textual content in each of the Upanishads. Brihadarankya Upanishad is the largest. Chandogya Upanishad is the second largest. Other eight Upanishads combined together is smaller than Chandogya or Brihandaranyaka. For comparison of the sizes, Ramayana, which is 1/4th the size of Mahabharata has a size index of 3725.
108 Upanishads
There is a larger set of Upanishads authored before 16th century CE. These are listed in Mukthika Upanishad which is a member of this list and which was thus obviously the last authored in this list. These Upanishads are listed as found in Mukthika Upanishad in the table below. This list contains the main ten Upanishads (authored before 1st Century CE). There are many other Upanishads not mentioned in this list since they were authored after 16th century or due to some other reasons. Total number of known Upanishads comes around 200.
n | Upanishad | Veda | Main10 | Famous |
1 | Aitareya Upanishad | Rig | Y | Y |
2 | Aksha-Malika Upanishad | Rig | ||
3 | Atma-Bodha Upanishad | Rig | ||
4 | Bahvricha Upanishad | Rig | ||
5 | Kaushitaki-Brahmana Upanishad | Rig | Y | |
6 | Mudgala Upanishad | Rig | ||
7 | Nada-Bindu Upanishad | Rig | ||
8 | Nirvana Upanishad | Rig | ||
9 | Saubhagya-Lakshmi Upanishad | Rig | ||
10 | Tripura Upanishad | Rig | ||
11 | Adhyatma Upanishad | Yajur-S | ||
12 | Advaya-Taraka Upanishad | Yajur-S | ||
13 | Bhikshuka Upanishad | Yajur-S | ||
14 | Brihadaranyaka Upanishad | Yajur-S | Y | Y |
15 | Hamsa Upanishad | Yajur-S | ||
16 | Isavasya Upanishad | Yajur-S | Y | Y |
17 | Jabala Upanishad | Yajur-S | ||
18 | Mandala-Brahmana Upanishad | Yajur-S | ||
19 | Mantrika Upanishad | Yajur-S | ||
20 | Muktika Upanishad | Yajur-S | ||
21 | Niralamba Upanishad | Yajur-S | ||
22 | Paingala Upanishad | Yajur-S | ||
23 | Paramahamsa Upanishad | Yajur-S | ||
24 | Satyayaniya Upanishad | Yajur-S | ||
25 | Subala Upanishad | Yajur-S | ||
26 | Tara-Sara Upanishad | Yajur-S | ||
27 | Trisikhi-Brahmana Upanishad | Yajur-S | ||
28 | Turiyatita-Avadhuta Upanishad | Yajur-S | ||
29 | Yajnavalkya Upanishad | Yajur-S | ||
30 | Akshi Upanishad | Yajur-K | ||
31 | Amrita-Bindhu Upanishad | Yajur-K | ||
32 | Amrita-Nada Upanishad | Yajur-K | ||
33 | Avadhuta Upanishad | Yajur-K | ||
34 | Brahma-Vidya Upanishad | Yajur-K | ||
35 | Brahma Upanishad | Yajur-K | ||
36 | Dakshinamurti Upanishad | Yajur-K | ||
37 | Dhyana-Bindu Upanishad | Yajur-K | ||
38 | Ekakshara Upanishad | Yajur-K | ||
39 | Garbha Upanishad | Yajur-K | ||
40 | Kaivalya Upanishad | Yajur-K | ||
41 | Kalagni-Rudra Upanishad | Yajur-K | ||
42 | Kali-Santarana Upanishad | Yajur-K | ||
43 | Katha Upanishad | Yajur-K | Y | Y |
44 | Katharudra Upanishad | Yajur-K | ||
45 | Kshurika Upanishad | Yajur-K | ||
46 | Maha-Narayana (or) Yajniki Upanishad | Yajur-K | ||
47 | Pancha-Brahma Upanishad | Yajur-K | ||
48 | Pranagnihotra Upanishad | Yajur-K | ||
49 | Rudra-Hridaya Upanishad | Yajur-K | ||
50 | Sarasvati-Rahasya Upanishad | Yajur-K | ||
51 | Sariraka Upanishad | Yajur-K | ||
52 | Sarva-Sara Upanishad | Yajur-K | ||
53 | Skanda Upanishad | Yajur-K | ||
54 | Suka-Rahasya Upanishad | Yajur-K | ||
55 | Svetasvatara Upanishad | Yajur-K | Y | |
56 | Taittiriya Upanishad | Yajur-K | Y | Y |
57 | Tejo-Bindu Upanishad | Yajur-K | ||
58 | Varaha Upanishad | Yajur-K | ||
59 | Yoga-Kundalini Upanishad | Yajur-K | ||
60 | Yoga-Sikha Upanishad | Yajur-K | ||
61 | Yoga-Tattva Upanishad | Yajur-K | ||
62 | Aruni Upanishad | Sama | ||
63 | Avyakta Upanishad | Sama | ||
64 | Chandogya Upanishad | Sama | Y | Y |
65 | Darsana Upanishad | Sama | ||
66 | Jabali Upanishad | Sama | ||
67 | Kena Upanishad | Sama | Y | Y |
68 | Kundika Upanishad | Sama | ||
69 | Maha Upanishad | Sama | ||
70 | Maitrayani Upanishad | Sama | Y | |
71 | Maitreya Upanishad | Sama | ||
72 | Rudraksha-Jabala Upanishad | Sama | ||
73 | Sannyasa Upanishad | Sama | ||
74 | Savitri Upanishad | Sama | ||
75 | Vajrasuchika Upanishad | Sama | ||
76 | Vasudeva Upanishad | Sama | ||
77 | Yoga-Chudamani Upanishad | Sama | ||
78 | Annapurna Upanishad | Atharva | ||
79 | Atharvasikha Upanishad | Atharva | ||
80 | Atharvasiras Upanishad | Atharva | ||
81 | Atma Upanishad | Atharva | ||
82 | Bhasma-Jabala Upanishad | Atharva | ||
83 | Bhavana Upanishad | Atharva | ||
84 | Brihad-Jabala Upanishad | Atharva | ||
85 | Dattatreya Upanishad | Atharva | ||
86 | Devi Upanishad | Atharva | ||
87 | Ganapati Upanishad | Atharva | ||
88 | Garuda Upanishad | Atharva | ||
89 | Gopala-Tapaniya Upanishad | Atharva | ||
90 | Hayagriva Upanishad | Atharva | ||
91 | Krishna Upanishad | Atharva | ||
92 | Maha-Vakya Upanishad | Atharva | ||
93 | Mandukya Upanishad | Atharva | Y | Y |
94 | Mundaka Upanishad | Atharva | Y | Y |
95 | Narada-Parivrajaka Upanishad | Atharva | ||
96 | Nrisimha-Tapaniya Upanishad | Atharva | ||
97 | Para-Brahma Upanishad | Atharva | ||
98 | Paramahamsa-Parivrajaka Upanishad | Atharva | ||
99 | Pasupata-Brahmana Upanishad | Atharva | ||
100 | Prasna Upanishad | Atharva | Y | Y |
101 | Rama-Rahasya Upanishad | Atharva | ||
102 | Rama-Tapaniya Upanishad | Atharva | ||
103 | Sandilya Upanishad | Atharva | ||
104 | Sarabha Upanishad | Atharva | ||
105 | Sita Upanishad | Atharva | ||
106 | Surya Upanishad | Atharva | ||
107 | Tripadvibhuti-Mahanarayana Upanishad | Atharva | ||
108 | Tripura-Tapini Upanishad | Atharva |
Further Reading
Internal Sources
- Upanishad
- Upanishad Wiki
- Brihadaranyaka Upanishad
- Chandogya Upanishad
- Other Main Upanishads
- Upanishad Ganga Videos
External Sources
- Upanishads in Sanskrit Originals - astrojyoti
- Upanishads in English - sacred-text
- Upanishads in English - sacred-text
- 108 Upanishads - celextel
- Upanishads in Sanskrit and English - gatewayforindia
- Upanishads - wikipedia
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