KathaUpanishad

Introduction
The Upanishads are a collection of teachings passed down from teacher to the student
in a series. They are all written in Classical Sanskrit and hence were written down only
after the development of Classical Sanskrit, which is, dated as the second half of the
Christian era. These are definitely post Vedic, post Buddhist and post Jainism and are
called Vedanta or the end of the Vedas. They form the core of Vedanta and Samkhya
philosophies. Since they are carried from teacher to Student they are considered as
revealed truths (Sruti heard truths) concerning the nature of ultimate reality (Brahman)
and describing the character and form of human salvation (moksha). The Upanishads
are later than the Brahmanas and Aranyakas. The Brahmanas are glosses on the
mythology, philosophy and rituals of the Vedas. "Aranyaka" (āraṇyaka) ("belonging to
the wilderness" (araṇya)) contain Brahmanic style discussion of priestly rituals
associated with the Vedic rituals. Though it is claimed that Upanishads have been
orally transmitted from generations to generations even before the Christian Era there is
no way we can ascertain their origin. It is certain that they were written down as we
have to day only after the second century AD. Earliest documented Sanskrit occurs
only by 150 AD. The classical period of Sanskrit literature dates to the Gupta period and
the successive pre-Islamic Middle kingdoms of India, spanning roughly the 3rd to 8th
centuries CE.
"The oldest of these, the Brihadaranyaka and Chandogya Upanishads, were assigned
the period during the pre-Buddhist era of India, while the Taittiriya, Aitareya and
Kausitaki, which show Buddhist influence, must have been composed after the
development of Buddhism The remainder of the mukhya Upanishads are by common
consensus dated to the first two centuries of the Common Era. The new Upanishads
were composed in the medieval and early modern period: discoveries of newer
Upanishads were being reported as late as 1926. One, the Muktikā Upanishad,
predates 1656 and contains a list of 108 canonical Upanishads, including itself as the
last. However, several texts under the title of "Upanishads" originated right up to the first