The Upaniṣads were first put into written form in 1656 CE, when Sultan Dara Shakoh sponsored the translation of fifty Upaniṣads from Sanskrit into Persian. In 1801–1802, these Persian works were then translated into Latin by Antequil du Perron, becoming the first, although poor, European version. Since that time, all of the Upaniṣads have been rendered into various Indian scripts, and the more important or influential ones have been translated into virtually all of the world's major languages. The Upaniṣads stand as works of monumental significance in the history of India and of the world.
Connotations of the Term UpaniṢad
Built from the Sanskrit verbal root sad ("sit") and the prefixes upa- and ni- ("nearby"), the word upaniṣad represents the act of sitting at the feet of someone. The pedagogical tradition in which a student in search of sacred knowledge sat on the ground in front of a guru typifies, in part, the practices of the Vedic vānaprasthas ("forest dwellers") and saṃnyāsins ("renun-ciants") who had retired to forest retreats to meditate and study.
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