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Hindu scriptures The Upanishads (Devanagari ???????, IAST upani?ad, also spelled "Upanisad") are Hindu scriptures that constitute the core teachings of Vedanta.[1] They do not belong to any particular period of Sanskrit literature the oldest, such as the Brhadaranyaka and Chandogya Upanishads, date to the late Brahmana period (around the middle of the first millennium BCE), while the latest were composed in the medieval and early modern period. The Upanishads realize monist ideas, some of which were hinted at in the earlier texts, and they have exerted an important influence on the rest of Hindu and Indian philosophy, and are considered one of the 100 Most Influential Books Ever Written. The philosopher and commentator Shankara is thought to have composed commentaries on eleven mukhya or principal Upanishads, those that are generally regarded as the oldest, spanning the late Vedic and Mauryan periods. The Muktika Upanishad (predates 1656) contains a list of 108 canonical Upanishads[2] and lists itself as the final one. Dara Shikoh (d. 1659), son of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, translated fifty Upanishads into Persian. Max Müller (1879) was aware of 170. Sadhale, in his massive verse index Upani?ad-vakya-maha-kosa, has drawn on 223 different extant texts that call themselves by this name.[3] Additionally, parts of earlier texts, of Brahmanas or passages of the Vedas themselves, are sometimes considered Upanishads. The Sanskrit term upani?ad derives from upa- (nearby), ni- (at the proper place, down) and sad, that is "sitting down near" a teacher in order to receive instruction[4] - "laying siege" to the teacher, as Schayer puts it.[5] Monier-Williams adds that "according to native authorities upanishad means 'setting to rest ignorance by revealing the knowledge of the supreme spirit');..."[6] A gloss of the term upani?ad based on Shankara's commentary on the Ka?ha and B?hadara?yaka Upanishads equates it with Atmavidya, that is "knowledge of the Self", or Brahmavidya "knowledge of Brahma".[citation needed] Other dictionary meanings include "esoteric doctrine" and "secret doctrine".
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