The Kausitaki Brahmana Upanisad (कौषीतकि ब्राह्माणोपनिषत्)

Description

कौषीतकि ब्राह्माणोपनिषत् (The Kausitaki Brahmana Upanisad) COLEBROOKE, in his essay on the Vedas, gives a brief account of the Kaushitaki Brahmaņa Upanishad, of which however be had only seen a small fragment among Sir R. Chambers’ MSS., besides an abridgement of it in Vidyáranya’s metrical paraphrase of twelve principal Upanishads. The Upanishad itself has always been highly esteemed by the Hindús, and S’ankará chárya frequently quotes it in his commentary on the Vedanta Sútras. It appears, however, to be now but rarely met with; there is, I believe, no copy of the original in any of the libraries of Europe, and for some time I failed in my search for copies in India. At last I succeeded beyond my hopes, and the following is the list of the MSS. from which the present edition has been prepared.

A. An old MS. of the text only, 22 foll. Asiatic Society’s Library.

B. An old MS. (73 1/3 foll.) of S’ankaránanda’s commentary, containing the Kaushitaki-Brahmanopanishad-Dipiká in four adhyayas, and the Kaushitaki-Brahmanopanishat-pada-yojaniká. The latter is continnously numbered from the former as the fifth to the ninth adhyayas, the ninth is unfinished, and the work has no proper close,† As. Soc.

C. A MS. (foll. 87 1/2) of Sankaránanda’s Dípiká only; this, however, seems only a less accurate transcript of B.’s original. As. Soc.

D. A modern but good copy of the text and the Dípiké only, borrowed, through Professor Griffith, from a pundit of Benares.

E. A MS. (47 foll.) of the Dípiká, in the Tailinga character, given by Walter Elliot, Esq. C. S. to Dr. Röer, and which the latter kindly left with me on his leaving India. It is a recent transcript and generally agrees with B. C. with one very important difference, viz. that it agrees with D. in noticing certain various readings, which are everywhere omitted in B. and C.

F. A MS. (7 foll.) from the Behares College Library, containing the text only of the third and fourth adhyayas.