Customer Reviews

Upanisads (Oxford World's Classics)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

After some Sanskrit studies years ago, I decided I'd like to read the principal Upanishads in an accurate (so not the laughably loose Mascaro version) but readable (so not the painfully literal and commentary-heavy tome of Radhakrishnan) English version. It soon became apparent that the choice was between Olivelle (the volume reviewed here) and Valerie Roebuck's Penguin Classics edition of 2000/2003. The academic book reviews were quite ambivalent, so I got the two rivals out from the library and made my own comparison.

I was surprised to find the Oxford superior in every way. Most importantly, Olivelle's translation (while plenty literal) is simply in much more natural English. Roebuck is fond of unnatural word order. Her version includes many footnotes on each page, without which her text would sometimes make no sense; Olivelle manages to translate just as literally, but so that you don't NEED to consult his equally voluminous notes in the back. Looking at the Sanskrit text in cases of notable differences, I found that I was almost always more satisfied with Olivelle's version as scrupulously & clearly reflecting the original, too. (In any case, there's no question that Olivelle is the more authoritative scholar; Roebuck needs to cite several of his books in her bibliography and apologize for the "temerity" of offering a new version, but there is no important scholarly work of Roebuck's that Olivelle can cite in his extensive bibliography.)

Publishing is a business. Roebuck freely admits that she relied heavily on Olivelle's version in making her own. The surprise is that she did not manage to stand on his shoulders and make something better in any way. (The reviews and marketing blurbs that suggest Roebuck's version has any more "devotional" value boils down to some pretty superficial and unimportant differences, like including the invocations before and after each upanishad--which are in no sense a part of the actual text or teaching.) In a sane world, there is no need for the Penguin. The chronology is clear: Penguin realized Mascaro was an embarrassment in need of replacement; they contracted Roebuck; while she was working Olivelle's version came out, making hers otiose. Penguin can't let its Mascaro version be totally eclipsed by Oxford, so we have this choice to confuse us. Don't be confused--get this Oxford edition.

Finally, the Oxford volume is much better-designed. The notes are clearly indexed by page numbers at the top; the upanishads themselves have much clearer running head-numbers; the upanishads are usefully prefaced by a short, clear outline; etc.

Some caveats have to apply here. For one, the challenge of rating a book like this with stars is obvious; who am I to pass judgment on such ancient literature? Or the translation, since I don't read the original language? With that in mind, I confine my review to the style in which it is rendered for the novice.

The Upanishads are not an easy read, and I have seen them done in verse format and in paragraph format; the latter is used here. I find it more readable, but others prefer verse. Whether you will like this translation depends largely on your preference in this area.

It does have (parenthesizations) after many words showing the original word, which helps a lot when learning to define terms like 'prana' and 'upanishad'... e.g., "... show me the hidden teaching (<i>upanisad</i>)...". This not only helps the reader to learn the meanings of these difficult-to-render terms, but points up the challenges involved in translation.

I found the foreword helpful in setting up a historical and cultural backdrop for the Upanishads. A good half of the work is taken up by a single Upanishad (the Brhadarayanka), but that was probably inevitable.

What I would have liked to have seen was a little more interpretation. As a novice reader of the Upanishads, it was really a struggle to understand what they meant in context, and I never did make head or tail out of much of it. A section at the end of each chapter (or some well-placed footnotes) would have gone far to make the work accessible to those for whom the cultural reach was a bit lengthy.

Patrick Olivelle's translation is an excellent insight into Upanisads for a first timer. He has designed this translation in a very easy to follow fashion keeping in mind that most of us are not learned pundits.

The clear introduction gives a comprehensive background of the Vedas. The history of Indian social structure when the Upanisads were written, their authorship, chronology, geography, etc. give the reader a comfortable feel as they go forth with their reading. The reader is also provided with a table dividing the Upanisads into the four Vedas.

I find the paragraph (and the divisions of chapters the author has used) format used in this edition much easier than the verse format. Each chapter is accompanied by extensive notes in the back to the book.

The Upanisads are difficult and sometimes tedious read but this translation makes it much easier for people who have no prior knowledge.

Professor Olivelle is a great scholar - no doubt one of the most highly respected Sanskritists and prolific translators of our time. As such, it should be no surprise to find that his translation of the Upanisads is the best currently available, and will likely remain so for quite some time. The introduction to the text is extremely informative and helps place the works in their proper context. The text itself is quite meticulously translated - striking an agreeable balance of readability, scholarship and faithfulness to the original Sanskrit. A must for anyone interested in Hinduism.

First, I like to start with what I like about the book. The author did a good job of providing notes to help the reader understand the context of the Upanishads. The book is a useful addition to the library of people who want to study the topic seriously, but should not be used as the only translation.

Now for what I think undermines the quality of the book. The first is that the translation is quite stilted, and the author is somewhat inconsistent abut when to translate names. A great deal would be made more clear if there was a consistent style about this (maybe leaving all names untranslated, but adding notes with the translations).

A second issue is that there are a number of words in Sanscrit which are translated differently in different contexts, but are central to understanding the nature of the teachings in the Upanishads. Prana, for example..... One thing that would really help would be for these words and related concepts to consistently have the sanscrit word appear in parenthases next to it (so I know for sure whether "breath" is a translation of "prana" or not. Now I know some of the time that it is, but am unsure others). I know this is a difficult issue to solve when translating a body of work like the Upanishads (when I have done translations of Old English works, I tend to do a lot of footnoting).

All in all, I like the completeness of the selections. And I like the notes. But the translations seem empty, stilted, and difficult, and inconsistent.

This is a superb translation of the Upanishads -- the best I've seen by a long shot. Graceful, readable prose informed by modern scholarship, and the price is dirt-cheap. What more could you ask for? This is the edition to buy.

If you've read Easwaran's translation of the Upanishads, as I did, you'll be shocked by this version. Olivelle stripped all of the emotion, inspiration, and soul from these profound philosophical texts, which produces a stilted, literal, clunky translation/interpretation. You can tell that the translation is so deliberate, so painstakingly constructed by the use of a translating dictionary, that it just sounds hollow and awkward.

Example: In the Svestasvatara Upanishad, here is Olivelle's translation (in a section discussing Brahman): "...tranquil, unblemished, spotless, and the highest dike to immortality." Dike? Easwaran's translation is "bridge." Then look at Olivelle's note on this translation, on p. 395: "It may well be that in a late text such as this the term 'setu' may have already acquired the meaning of 'bridge.'" Well yes, so why didn't he use the term "bridge," instead of "dike," which is not only a different structure (a ditch/channel/embankment), but totally kills the meaning of the passage he translated?

Yes, Olivelle put LOTS of work into this translation, but you can tell that he's not interested in Advaita Vedanta for anything other than to show us how pedantic he is. It's 100% fine to approach sacred literature in a purely academic way, but he kills the real meaning and heart of this text, making it arduous to read if you've read a better translation. Still, the best and most useful thing about this version is that if you've read other ones, it will teach you how vastly different translations/interpretations can be.

The notes at the end are fairly interesting, if you want to approach this philosophy from a purely academic perspective. If that's your goal, this book would be a decent addition to your library.

The Upanishads, regarded by Hindus as sacred scripture, are essential reading for anyone wishing to understand Eastern literature, philosophy and religion.

The Upanishads are a series of works in dialogue format which explore the nature of the universe, the nature of the human soul and conciousness, God and Gods in Hindu belief, and also the appropriate religious duties of men.

These works are often of varying length but with patience and read carefully, contain profound spiritual insights and also great philosophical interest. The Upanishads have influenced philosophers, poets, artists and writers including Emerson, Coleridge, Schopenhauer and Wittgenstein. They are also essential for understanding Buddhism, which in many ways is a reaction against Hindu philosophy and theology.

This version of the Upanishads includes a good introduction by a scholar on Eastern literature as well as very useful explanatory notes, and an introduction to each chapter and book of the Upanishads. Also like other Oxford versions it is very affordable.

The Upanisads make up part of the classic Hindu holy scriptures, so anyone wishing to more fully understand appreciate Hinduism must read them. Olivelle does a fine job of putting them into context and providing plenty of explanatory footnotes. That said, the Upanisads are not always the most invigorating read. Many are highly formulaic, antiquated expressions of humanistic science and spirituality. For the rare gems of wisdom, however, which express the Hindu ideas about the unity of the self (atman) with Brahman, the cosmic importance of OM, and a few details about the afterlife, the read does ultimately become worthwhile. Certainly not for the lighthearted reader, but for the serious student a recommended read.

After the SAMHITAS and BRAHMANAS, the UPANISHADS form the next level of Vedic literature. But where the SAMHITAS are little more than ridiculously-long and repetitive hymns and the BRAHMANAS unintuitive instruction manuals, the UPANISHADS aim to enlighten us with their "Hidden Teachings". This review will look at the following two aspects:

THE TRANSLATION:

This is the only edition of the UPANISHADS that I have read, but I feel confident in stating that it is remarkably readable. When reading Hindu texts, one is often stuck with the following 3 choices:
1) A translation from the late 1800s/early 1900s with lots of antiquated words like: thou, didst, thee, hast, and so forth.
2) A translation from someone originally from India, but whose command of English is--usually--loaded with spelling and grammatical errors.
3) A translation from a modern native-English scholar/professor.

So with those three choices in mind, I'd rather stick with option 3. After all, what is the point of reading a religious text if you can't understand it?
Granted, all 3 of these choices are prone to bias, context-bending and misinterpretation, which is yet another reason why I feel lucky to have read this translation.
In the NOTE ON THE TRANSLATION, Patrick Olivelle implies that he would rather impart the cultural and social context instead of the debatable theological context.

The INTRODUCTION is also very well presented. Of most interest to me was the map of India according to the UPANISHADS and a layout of a typical Vedic sacrifice. That one picture explained Vedic ritual more clearly than my exhaustive readings of the RIGVEDA SAMHITA and BRAHMANAS.

Another plus is the fact that the NOTES to the text-proper are included at the very end, where they are out of the way. You don't have to read the author's comments--which always pose the possibility of bias or misinterpretation.

Yet another plus is a LIST OF NAMES OF GODS, PEOPLE AND PLACES towards the very end. Few things are more frustrating than reading a Hindu text that throws dozens of Sanskrit names and words at you, leaving you hanging because the author/translator was too lazy to include a glossary.

Finally, the text is easy to read and Sanskrit words are at a minimum.

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THE TEXT:

I think the first point that needs to be brought up is this--this book is a SELECTION of UPANISHADS and even those that are featured here are often mere FRAGMENTS of larger texts. There are roughly 100 UPANISHADS and this book features 12 of the "more important" ones.

So with that being said, it is hard to fairly critique the text of the UPANISHADS when we don't have the whole body of work to read and study. Therefore I can only make a few comments based on what I have read in this book.

--I've noticed that the UPANISHADS place alot more focus on the SELF than on Soma Sacrifices and Vedic rituals. But what is even more curious is that the UPANISHADS, as far as I could tell, offered no explanation for this shift in focus.

--The Brhadaranyaka Upanishad shows us the same lineage TWICE (Chapter 2.6 and Chapter 4.6) with no internal explanation of its importance.

--Just when I thought the UPANISHADS had clarified something, more passages come along that raised more questions than answers. As implied in the 4th Question of the Prasna Upanishad, if the ultimate "hidden teaching" is that by perceiving "the Person", knowing the whole, one becomes the whole world, then why not just leave it at that instead of getting into repetitive analogies?

--Finally, there are some parts of the UPANISHADS that are downright laughable--such as Chapter 6.4 of the Brhadaranyaka Upanishad that flat-out says that women should be bribed or beaten if they don't consent to have sex. It even goes on to say, "If he wants her to love him . . ." before getting into a ridiculous and graphic procedure for "accomplishing" this. It is passages such as these that make me doubt the "Divine Inspiration" of these Hindu texts.

Perhaps my assessment of the UPANISHADS is a bit harsh, but I call the shots as I see them. If my understanding of this text is incorrect, I'd be more than happy to hear from those more learned in Hindu literature--assuming they can back up their claims with authoritative text and not mere hearsay.

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I highly recommend this TRANSLATION of the UPANISHADS, but the TEXT leaves alot to be desired. As is, it comes across as a half-baked philosophy of a people struggling to understand Life, the Universe and Everything.