RIDDLE NO. 8
HOW THE UPANISHADS DECLARED WAR ON THE VEDAS ?
What is the position of the Upanishads in relation to the Vedas ? Are the two complimentary to each other or are they antagonistic ? Of course, no Hindu would admit that the Vedas and Upanishads are repugnant to each other. On the contrary, it is the common belief of all Hindus that there is no antagonism between them and that both form part and parcel of the same single system of thought. Is this belief well-founded ?
The principal reason for the rise of such a belief is to be found in the fact that the Upanishads are also known by another name which is called Vedanta. The word Vedanta has got two meanings. In one sense, it means the last parts of the Vedas. In the second sense, it means the essence of the Vedas. The word Vedanta being another name for the Upanishads, the Upanishads themselves have come to acquire these meanings. It is these meanings which are responsible for the common belief that there is no antagonism between the Vedas and the Upanishads.
To what extent are these meanings of the word Upanishads justified by facts ? In the first place, it is well to note the meaning of the word Vedanta. What was the original meaning of the word Vedanta ? Does it mean the last book of the Vedas ?
As observed by Prof. Max Muller [1 ] :
“Vedanta is a technical term and did not mean originally the last portions of the Veda, or chapters placed, as it were, at the end of a volume of Vedic literature, but the end i.e., the object, the highest purpose of the Veda. There are, of course, passages, like the one in the Taittiriya-aranyaka (ed-Rajendra Mitra p. 820), which have been misunderstood both by native and European scholars, and where Vedanta means simply the end of the Veda : yo vedadu svarah
1 The Upanishads (S.B.E.) Vol. I, Introduction, p. LXXXVI.
This 15-page typed MS with modifications in the handwriting of the author was originally entitled ‘Vedas versus Upanishads’. Concluding two paragraphs are added by the author in his own handwriting.—Ed.