ABSTRACT
The middle-period Upanisads draw on a stock of floating stanzas which must have been already current when the early prose Upanisads were completed, as some of them appear there. Theism is present in parts of the Isa, Katha, and Mundaka Upanisads, but most of all in the Svetasvatara Upanisad. The Isa, Katha, and Svetasvatara Upanisads belong to the Yajurveda, the Kena to the Samaveda, and the Prasna and Mundaka to the Atharvaveda. But whereas the early prose Upanisads, especially the Brhadranyaka with its opening praise of the sacrificial horse, and the Chandogya with its references to Samavedic chant, are clearly connected with the ritual traditions to which they are affiliated, the middle-period Upanisads are less so, and generally show less interest in ritual. Looking in the opposite direction, there is a clear affinity between the middle-period Upanisads and the Bhagavadgita, which has many stanzas in common with them, as well as ideas about God, the world, personality, and yoga.
