Brihadaranyaka Upanishad
| Brihadaranyaka | |
|---|---|
| IAST | Bṛhadāraṇyakopaniṣat |
| Date | pre-Buddhist, ~9th to 6th century BCE |
| Author(s) | Yajnavalkya |
| Type | Mukhya Upanishads |
| Linked Veda | Shukla Yajurveda |
| Linked Brahmana | part of Shatapatha Brahmana |
| Linked Aranyaka | Brihad Aranyaka |
| Chapters | Six |
| Philosophy | Ātman, Brahman |
| Commented by | Adi Shankara, Ramanuja, Madhvacharya |
| Popular verse | "Aham Brahmasmi" |
|
Part of a series on the Hindu scriptures Upanishads |
 |
| Rigveda |
|---|
| Aitareya |
| Yajurveda |
| Brihadaranyaka · Isha · Taittiriya · Katha |
| Samaveda |
| Chandogya · Kena |
| Atharvaveda |
| Mundaka · Mandukya · Prashna |
| Other Major Upanishads |
| Shvetashvatara ·Kaushitaki ·Maitrayaniya |
The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (Sanskrit: बृहदारण्यक उपनिषद्, Bṛhadāraṇyakopaniṣat) is one of the Principal Upanishads and one of the oldest Upanishadic scriptures of Hinduism. A key scripture to various schools of Hinduism, the Brihadaranyaka Upanisad is tenth in the Muktikā or "canon of 108 Upanishads".
The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad is estimated to have been composed about 700 BCE, excluding some parts estimated to have been composed after the Chandogya Upanishad. The Sanskrit language text is contained within the Shatapatha Brahmana, which is itself a part of the Shukla Yajur Veda.
The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad is a treatise on Ātman (Soul, Self), includes passages on metaphysics, ethics and a yearning for knowledge that influenced various Indian religions, ancient and medieval scholars, and attracted secondary works such as those by Madhvacharya and Adi Shankara.
The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad was in all likelihood composed in the earlier part of 1st millennium BCE. The exact year, and even the century of the Upanishad composition is unknown. Scholars have offered different estimates ranging from 900 BCE to 600 BCE, all preceding Buddhism. According to a 1998 review by Olivelle,Brihadaranyaka is one of the oldest Upanishads, along with Jaiminiya Upanishad and Chandogya Upanishads. It was composed around 700 BCE, give or take a century or so, but it is likely that the text was a living document and some verses were edited over a period of time before the 6th century BCE.
The chronology of Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, like other Upanishads, is uncertain and contested. The chronology is difficult to resolve because all opinions rest on scanty evidence, an analysis of archaism, style and repetitions across texts, driven by assumptions about likely evolution of ideas, and on presumptions about which philosophy might have influenced which other Indian philosophies. Patrick Olivelle states, "in spite of claims made by some, in reality, any dating of these documents (early Upanishads) that attempts a precision closer than a few centuries is as stable as a house of cards".
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