Upanishads ca. 500 BCE–200 BCE

The Upanishads are a collection of Hindu sacred texts that were recorded in Sanskrit over the course of some two thousand years, through the end of the Middle Ages. The majority were composed between 500 bce and 200 ce but likely began earlier in an oral tradition. They are meant to be read in the form of instruction, teaching, or dialogue between guru and student. The term Upanishad comes from either of the roots upasan or upa-na-shad, which respectively mean to “draw near” and “sit down close to”; some see this as suggesting instruction or sitting at the foot of a master. At the heart of the Upanishads is a process for investigating ultimate truth, such that one might understand the nature of reality and the soul might become freed from the physical body. The texts are traditionally considered to be a further unfolding of the ancient Vedas, allowing those earliest teachings to persist as meaningful for subsequent generations. Approximately 108 of the traditional Upanishads have survived. Some scholars have expanded the literary category or collection to include over two hundred Upanishads, as technically they can still be composed.