Book”) Upanishad

By general consensus, the oldest of the
Upanishads, the speculative religious
texts that form the most recent stratum
of the Vedas. The Brhadaranyaka
Upanishad’s chronological priority is
supported by at least four pieces of evidence: its length, its lack of organization, its archaic language, and its
relationship to earlier Vedic texts. The
opening passage gives an extended
comparison between the world and the
sacrificial horse, showing clear parallels
with the earlier Brahmana literature.
Moreover, by its very name (“great forest
book”), the Brhadaranyaka Upanishad
clearly points to a transition from the
Aranyaka (“forest books”) literature,
which followed Brahmana literature.
This upanishad first addresses many of
the questions raised in later texts and is
therefore an important source for the
development of the tradition. Unlike
most of the later Upanishads, it is written in prose rather than poetry, with the
instruction often in the form of dialogue
between various speakers.