referred to the Bibliography, p. 462 below. In the present status of Sanskrit scholarship, as well as of comparative religion and comparative philosophy, it is no unappreciative aspersion to assert that the same work can be done better now than it was done nearly forty years ago. Indeed, Max Müller himself predicted such improvement.1

Among previous translators my indebtedness is greatest to the late Professor Paul Deussen, of the University of Kiel. No Western scholar of his time has made a more thorough study of the Upanishads, both in themselves and in their relation to the wide field of Sanskrit literature. As a philosophical interpreter as well as an exact translator of the Upanishads, Deussen has no equal. I most gladly and gratefully acknowledge the help derived from constant reference to his German translation, Sechzig Upanishad's des Veda, as well as the stimulus of personal association with him, many years ago, at his home in Kiel.

It is a pleasure to express here the debt of gratitude that I owe to Professor E. Washburn Hopkins, of Yale University. Under his supervision the introductory essay and part of the translation originally took form, and he has since been good enough to revise the entire work in manuscript. His instruction and encouragement have been of the greatest assistance in the preparation of this volume, and many a passage has been clarified as a result of his helpful comments and constructive suggestions.

This volume has also had the benefit of the scholarship and technical skill of my friend George C. O. Haas, A.M., Ph.D., for some years an editor of the Journal of the American Oriental Society and at present holding an administrative post under the United States Government. He not only revised the entire manuscript before it went to press, solving problems of typographical detail and securing consistency throughout I have no doubt that future translators will find plenty of work to do.' (Lectures on the Vedanta Philosophy, p. 119.) 'Each one [of the previous translators] has contributed something, but there is still much left to be improved. In these studies everybody does the best he can; and scholars should never forget how easy it is to weed a field which has once been ploughed, and how difficult to plough unbroken soil.' (Sacred Books of the East, vol. 1, American ed., preface, p. f.) 2 See the Bibliography, p. 464 below.

the different parts of the entire work, but also undertook the laborious task of seeing the book through the press. For this generous assistance extending over a long series of years I feel deeply and sincerely grateful.

For assistance in connection with the compilation of the Bibliography thanks are due to James Southgate, Esq., who, as a member of the Department of Oriental Books and Manuscripts of the British Museum, revised and amplified the collection of titles which I had myself gathered during the progress of the work.

A word must be said also in appreciation of the unfailing courtesy and helpfulness of the Oxford University Press, whose patience during the long course of putting the work through the press, even amid the trials and difficulties of recent years, deserves hearty recognition.

In conclusion I would add a reverent salutation to India, my native land, mother of more religions than have originated or flourished in any other country of the world. In the early years of childhood and later in the first period of adult service, it was the chief vernacular of the Bombay Presidency which furnished a medium, along with the English language, for intercourse with the wistful people of India, among whom are still many of my dearest friends. It has been a satisfaction that some part of the preparation of this book, begun in the West, could be carried on in the land that gave these Upanishads to the world. Many of the MS. pages have been worked over in conjunction with native scholars in Calcutta and Bombay, and I wish to acknowledge especially the patient counsels of Mahâmahopadhyâya Hara Prasâd Shâstri and some of his group of pandits.

May this translation, with its introductory survey of the philosophy of the Upanishads, prove a means of bringing about a wider knowledge of the contents of these venerated texts and a discriminating appreciation of their teachings!

UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY,

NEW YORK.

ROBERT ERNEST HUME.

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CONTENTS

PREFACE

REMARKS CONCERNING THE TRANSLATION: ITS

METHOD AND ARRANGEMENT

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

xii

XV

I

73

177

275

294

.

302

335

341

REMARKS CONCERNING THE TRANSLATION

ITS METHOD AND ARRANGEMENT

Principles observed in the translation

It has been the aim of the translator to prepare a rendering that represents, as faithfully as possible, the form and meaning of the Sanskrit text. A literal equivalent, even though lacking in fluency or grace of expression, has been preferred throughout to a fine phrase that less exactly reproduces the original. The version has been made in accordance with philological principles, with constant and comprehensive comparison of recurrent words and phrases, and due attention has been paid to the native commentaries as well as to the work of previous scholars in East and West.

The text on which it is based

The text of the Upanishads here translated may be said to be in fairly good condition, and the readings of the printed editions could in the main be followed. Occasional adoption of variants or conjectural emendations is mentioned and explained in the footnotes (as on pp. 207, 226, 455). In the Brihad-Aranyaka Upanishad the text of the Kanva recension has been used as the basis; some of the variations of the Madhyaṁdina recension are noted at the foot of the page. In the Kaushitaki Upanishad the principal divergencies between the Bibliotheca Indica edition and that in the Anandāśrama Series are set forth in the notes.

Order of the Upanishads in this volume

The traditional sequence of the ten principal Upanishads is that given in the following useful versus memorialis:

isa-kena-katha-praśna-munda-māṇḍukya-tittiri

aitareyaṁ ca chandogyaṁ bṛhadāraṇyakaṁ tathā.

In the present volume, which adds the Maitri Upanishad to the usual group of twelve, they are arranged in the probable order of their original composition. Though the determination of this order is

From A Catechism of Hinduism, by Sris Chandra Vasu, Benares, 1899, p. 3.

difficult and at best conjectural, yet a careful study of the style and contents of these texts points to a relative sequence nearly like that first formulated by Deussen.' The only departure in this volume from Deussen's order consists in placing the Śvetāśvatara in the later group with the Maitri, rather than in the earlier group before the Mundaka.

Treatment of metrical portions

Metrical portions of the text are indicated by the use of type of a smaller size and by an arrangement that suggests verse form to the eye. The meter of each stanza is shown by the width of the margin: a margin of moderate width denotes the 11-syllable tristubh, whereas a wider margin denotes the familiar floka, or 8-syllable anustubh. The number of lines accords with the number of verses in the original, and wherever possible the translation follows the text line for line. It has frequently been possible to attain in English the same number of syllables as in the Sanskrit, though no attempt has been made to produce a consistently metrical translation to the detriment of the

sense.

Additions in square brackets

Matter in square brackets is matter not actually expressed in the words of the Sanskrit text. It comprises

(a) the English equivalent of a word or words omitted or to be understood in the Sanskrit (as at Ait. 4. 6, p. 300; Katha 4.3, P. 354);

(b) words added to complete or improve the English grammatical structure (as at Chānd. 5. 3. 3, p. 230);

(c) explanations added by the translator to make clear the import of the passage (as at Praśna 5. 3-5, p. 388; Maitri 6. 14, P. 433).

Additions in parentheses

Matter in parentheses is always identical in meaning with the preceding word or words. It comprises—

(a) translations or equivalents of proper names or other designations, as the Golden Germ (Hiranyagarbha)';

(b) Sanskrit words in italics, immediately after their English translation as 'peace (śanti).

1 See Deussen, Die Philosophie der Upanishad's, pp. 22-25; English tr., pp. 22-26 (cf. the Bibliography, p. 501 below). See also Macdonell, History of Sanskrit Literature, London, 1900, p. 226.

2 See Hopkins, Notes on the Cvetāçvatara, etc.,' JAOS. 22 (1901), pp. 380387, where he controverts Deussen on this very point.