English: The early Upanishads (Upanisad, Upanisat) are scriptures of Hinduism. Variously dated by scholars to have been composed between 900 BCE to about 200 BCE, these texts are in Sanskrit language and embedded within a layer of the Vedas. They contain a mixture of philosophy and mystical speculations, many set in the form of dialogues or pedagogic style. Their central teachings include the concepts of Atman (soul, self) and Brahman (metaphysical reality).

The above image is from a Maitri Upanishad manuscript and found embedded in a textual layer of the Krishna Yajurveda (Black Yajurveda). It is dated to between mid to later half of the 1st millennium BCE. The text is notable for its use of terminology and Sanskrit words also found in early Buddhist texts, though the core premises such as on "atman and anatta" and other teachings are very different.

The manuscript page above found in Pune, Maharashtra. It is the page marking the end of the first Prapathaka (highlighted in red) of the Maitrayaniya Upanishad. The second Prapathaka started immediately thereafter. The bolded text is the Upanishad, the light diacritics, colored marks, light dashes and dots under the letters are coded markers found in Sanskrit manuscripts for readers and reciters, i.e. dandas separate the words/sentences/verses, avagrahas for various compounds, circles for the galitas, and the particle iti. Colored or light texts on the margins are either corrections, or they are commentaries of the owner or some scholar / citations / reference-by-incorporation of another ancient Hindu scholar's work.

This manuscript is preserved at the Cambridge University, UK. Some sheets of the manuscript show signs of stains, decay and damage on the sides and its edges.

Language: Sanskrit

Script: Devanagari

The photo above is of a 2D artwork of a text that is over 2,000 years old, from a manuscript that was produced decades before 1923. Therefore Wikimedia Commons PD-Art licensing guidelines apply. Any rights I have as a photographer is herewith donated to wikimedia commons under CC 4.0 license.