The Ten Principal Upanishads 

Recently, the Prime Minister was called on by US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden at the White House in Washington DC.

During the meeting, PM Modi presented several gifts to Biden, including a 7.5-carat lab-grown diamond, an exquisite sandalwood box and a first edition print of the 1937 book “The Ten Principal Upanishads”.

The Ten Principal Upanishads

• Some of the major Sanskrit Upanishads have been translated into English under the name “The Ten Principal Upanishads” by Sri Purohit Swami and Irish poet William Butler Yeats. It is considered one of the best translations of the Upanishads.
• Of the traditional 109 Upanishads, ten are considered major. These are: Ish, Ken, Kath, Prashna, Mundaka, Mandukya, Taittiriya, Aitareya, Chhandogya and Brihadaranyaka.
• Written in the mid-1930s, the book was the result of William Butler Yeats’ desire to create a translation that was true to the original text and still accessible to the common man.

Shruti & Smriti:

• The Shruti texts are considered the most authoritative, and include the four Vedas (Rigveda, Yajurveda, Samaveda and Atharvaveda) and related texts. These include the Brahmanas (ritual texts), the Aranyakas and the Upanishads.
• The second category of Hindu scriptures the “Smriti”, is less authentic, and in many respects are believed to be derived from the Shruti texts, but are more popular. These include the great epics of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, the Dharmashastras, the Puranas and all other post-Vedic texts.

Source – Business Standard

Download Our App

More Current Affairs

The post The Ten Principal Upanishads appeared first on Youth Destination IAS.