RELG 252 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Vedic And Sanskrit Literature, Smriti, Upanishads
Document Summary
The upanishads: the upanishads fit into the chronology of 6th century bce, during the 6th century bce, metaphysics became prominent (metaphysics concerns the study of absolute reality, the shramanic traditions have three major metaphysics of importance: buddhism, Is now considered the classical language of india: still remains a legal language of india. It has historically been regarded a language that is suitable for revelation whereby un-authored literature and revelation appear. It has a prestige value for polity and kinship (demonstration that religion and politics go hand in hand). The prestige aspect of things primarily emerges through exclusion of specific castes. Chronology of vedic literature: sruti = revelation, held that there is no author, the text was divinely received, upanishads: is the youngest of the oldest texts. Two ways of understanding sanskrit literature (emic internal categorization): sruti, lit. Moksa release liberation : atman (self): argument that individual self is an illusion.