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important and authoritative as the above. They are the Bṛhadāraṇyaka, the Śvetāśvatara, the Muṇda and the Maṇdūkya, the Maitrāyaṇiya and the Kena Upaniṣads. Of these the Bṛhadāraṇyaka belongs to the Śukla yujurveda, the Śvetāśvatara and the Maitrāyaṇiya belong to the Kṛṣṇa-Yajurveda, the Kena to the Sāmaveda and the Muṇda and the Maṇdūkya to the Atharvaveda. Excluding the Śvetāśvatara and the Maitrāyaṇiya, the remaining Upaniṣads are generally termed as the Ten Upaniṣads. They are the authorities for our Vedānta system and are frequently quoted by our Ācāryas in support of their views. Besides these, there are nearly a hundred other Upaniṣads which underlie our sectarian practices and symbols.
It should not be supposed that every Upaniṣads gives a succinct account of any one system of philosophy. They are rather discussions on different topics comprised in the systems. The whole body of Upaṇisadic literature has been studied, and the contents have been systematised and expounded by Bādarāyana or Vyāsa in his Uttaramimāṁsā Sūtra or Darśana. The Sūtras and the Upaniṣadic statements or śrutis on which they are based are differently interpreted by different Ācāryas according to the system of philosophy advocated by them. In this way different systems of Vedānta arose, like Advaita, Viśiṣtādvaita, Dvaita, Śaiva etc. Most of the Ācāryas wrote commentataries on the important Upaniṣads in accordance with their systems of philosophy.
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