Ten Upanishads - Part 2
The 1180 sakhas or branches mentioned earlier is supposed to be mentioned in vishnu Puranam. According to another account, there are supposed to be 1133 branches of the vedas as given below.Rig Veda - 21 branches.Yajur Veda - 101 branchesSama Veda - 1000 branchesAtharva Veda - 11 branches_____________________________1133 branches.
The saint who classified the vedas into 4 parts is known as Vyasa. Vyasa means essay or composition and hence the name 'Veda Vyasa' got stuck to the sage, whose real name was Krishna, and because he was born on an island, he was called Krishnadwaipayana (Black man born on an island)Over the last few millenia, most of the sakhas have been lost and what we have now are only very few.Rig Veda - 1 branch, occurring in the Aithareya Upanishad.Sukla Yajurveda - 2 (out of 15). Kaanva Sakha in Maharashtra and Maadhyaandina Sakha in many parts of North India.Krishna Yajur Veda - 1 only (out of 94). Taithreeyam - most common in south India.Sama Veda - 3 only (out of 1000). Talavakara Sakha in Tamil Nadu, Raanaayaneeya Sakha in Maharashtra, Gautama Sakha in Kerala, Gujarat and a few other places.Atharvana Veda - 1 only. Saunaka Sakha, in a rare occurrence in Gujarat near Signor. Among the Brahmanas, similarly, only the following are currently available. Sukla Yajurveda - Satapada Brahmanam. this is a common reference book common to all the vedas. Brhuadaaranyakam serves as Aranyakam and Upanishad for the Sukla Yajur veda.Krishna Yajurveda - Brahmanam, Aranyakam and Upanishad are all in Taitreeyam only.Sama Veda - There are seven or eight Brahmanas like Dandya Brahmanam, Arsheya Brahmanam, Devadadhya Brahmanam, Samhitopanishad Brahmanam, Vamsa Brahmanam, etc.Atharva Veda - Only one Brahmanam called Gopatha Brahmanam.The ten popular upanishads occur in the different Vedas as mentioned below.1) Isavasya Upanishad - in Sukla Yajur Veda, at the end of the Samhitai itself.2) Kenopanishad - in Sama Veda, in Jaimini Sakha, Talavakaara Brahmana3) Katopanishad - in Krishna Yajur Veda, Kata Sakha. This is widely quoted in Geeta.4) Prasnopanishad5) Mundakopanishad6) MaandukyaupanishadAll these three occur in Atharva Veda.7) Taitreeya Upanishad - in Krishna Yajur Veda, Taitreeya Aranyakam. Because of its maximum usage and popularity, the Samhitai, Brahmanam, Aranyakam occuring in the Taitreeya Sakha, have all been called by the name Taitreeyam only.8. Aithareya Upanishad - in Rig Veda, Aithareya Aranyakam9) Chandogya upanishad - in Sama Veda, Chandogya Brahmanam. This is widely quoted in Brahma Sutram.10) Bruhadaranya Upanishad - in Sukla Yajur Veda as a complete Aranyakam. There are two branches in this. One is called Maadhyandina and the other Kanva Sakha. Adi Sankara has written his commentary only for the Kanva Sakha.Both Chandogya Upanishad and Bruhadaranyaka Upanishad are very big, bigger than the rest of the eight put together.These have been quoted in some detail to drive home the point about what we are left with, when compared to original Vedas, and our duty to hand over at least what is available to us, to the succeeding generations.We have inherited the earth and its environment not for our consumption, but to be preserved and handed over to our children. Similarly, we have inherited the Vedas, not to be extinguished, but to be preserved and handed over to our children, in all possible ways.We shall see in the future articles, some of the frequent quotes from the Vedas and what they mean.