The Vedic Seers

The oldest scriptures of India are the Vedas, which tradition holds were not composed by human beings but 'heard' in meditation by ancient seers, the rishis, as eternal truth, and so are called shruti, 'what was heard'. The last part of the Vedas is the Upanishads, a name meaning 'sitting near', that is, sitting beside a teacher to receive secret teaching. More than a hundred Upanishads survive, the oldest dating from the eighth to the sixth century BC. They name many sages, among them Yajnavalkya and Uddalaka Aruni, who in the forest discuss with pupils and wives the ground of the universe and the self of man; they are the fountainhead of Indian philosophy.