The Early Upanisads: Annotated Text and Translation & The Upanisads.

• Author: Smith, Frederick M.
• Position: Book Review

The Early Upanisads: Annotated Text and Translation. By PATRICK OLIVELLE. New York: OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, 1998. Pp. xxii + 677. $65.00.

The Upanisads. Translated by VALERIE J. ROEBUCK. Harmondsworth, Middlesex: PENGUIN BOOKS, 2000. Pp. xxxi + 503. Rs 395.

It is my good fortune to report that two recent translations of the major Upanisads are superior efforts that should replace earlier translations as standards in the field. My main conclusion thus stated in the beginning, it remains to explain the differences between the two, which are substantial, and the situations under which each may be recommended. One translation is by Patrick Olivelle, who has in fact published two related volumes. The first, published in 1996 (New York: Oxford Univ. Press), is titled simply Early Upanisads. This is little more than a translation with the mandatory introductory essay, a few notes, a glossary, and an index, all of which are expected of such an effort. The second volume (1998) goes well beyond the earlier one, and is clearly pitched to a scholarly, Indologically-informed audience. The other translation, by Valerie Roebuck, appears to have been commissioned by Penguin for a wide readership. Thus it appears, on the surface at least, rather like Olivelle's 1996 volume, with introduction, footnotes, glossary, and index, but with a rather random and forgettable bibliography.

For two reasons, it will be better to deal with Olivelle's translation first. For one thing, it was published first, giving Roebuck the advantage of checking her translations against his, which she openly admits. Second, Olivelle's later volume, which is what will be principally considered here, is not simply a book of translations; it is a major work of scholarship on the early Upanisads. As such, it is far in excess of Roebuck's effort. But this does not mean that it is in every way superior to Roebuck's volume.

Olivelle begins his 1998 volume with a statement on the texts used, followed by a succinct introductory essay. A welcome addition is a detailed table of contents for each Upanisad. Olivelle has deeply studied the critically edited Sanskrit texts, and is more sensitive to the textuality of the Upanisads than any previous translator, a fact which may be seen on virtually every page of his learned philological and exegetical notes (pp. 487-641). It is no exaggeration to say that these notes will prove edifying to every Sanskritist. The volume concludes with a lengthy and definitive bibliography of scholarly work on the Upanisads, and an extensive index of names and subjects. Nowhere in this energetic volume is there any "reslumping to laziness," to quote Ezra Pound.

Olivelle's introduction is informative and, I believe, will provide any student with a sound basis on which to work with the Upanisads. Nevertheless, a couple of points therein may be disputed. He states that the Indus Valley civilization "died without exerting any noticeable influence on the civilizations that followed" (p. 4). About this, I daresay, we remain at best uncertain. In a later discussion of vedic ritual he states that "there are seven types of soma sacrifices" (p. 19). This is perhaps too casual or oversimplified for the audience he is targeting. Here he is surely referring to the seven soma samsthas. Among these, the vajapeya and ukthya, for example, can hardly be considered "types." If "types" are to be designated, it would be better to consider three: soma sacrifices of one day (ekaha), twelve days (dvadasaha), and longer than twelve days (sattra). I hasten to add that these are minor quibbles in a rewarding introduction.

The main section of the book, quite naturally, consists of the Upanisads themselves (pp. 29-475). Perhaps the main reason why this volume will prove indispensable to scholars is because Olivelle has situated the Sanskrit text on the left-hand page and the translation of that passage on the right. This will give scholars easy access to both the text and translation, a service thus far provided only in the Sankarized translations published by the Ramakrishna Mission; and, like those, it will provide scholars the opportunity to think about and meditate on the text, to praise or disagree with Olivelle. Because of hundreds of pages of Sanskrit text in devanagari (readers of this journal will be grateful to Oxford University Press for this uncharacteristic act of lenience), this is not the best edition to assign students in lower-level classes; but for the same reason it is now the best edition for scholars. I, like most of us in the profession, prefer footnotes to endnotes, but in this case endnotes was the wiser choice. Clean facing pages of text and translation work well here, and the dense text-critical nature of most of the notes is properly relegated to...