Jaiminiyopanishad Brahmana

Jaiminīya Upaniṣad Brāhmaṇa belongs to Jaimini Śākhā of Sāmaveda. It is also known by the name ‘Talavakāra Āraṇyaka’ or Jaiminīya Talvakāra Upaniṣad Brāhmaṇa.’ This is only available Āraṇyaka related to Sāmaveda. According to the Mangalācaraṇa of this Jaiminīya Upaniṣad Brāhmaṇa, Jaimini was the teacher of Talavakāra Ṛṣi, this text,therefore, can be regarded as written by Talavakāra, a student of Jaimini. The Jaiminīya Upaniṣad Brāhmaṇa is divided into four chapters (Adhyāya) which are again divided into subsections called Anuvāka and Khaṇḍa.

Jaiminīya Upaniṣad Brāhmaṇa is important for its ancient language, terminology, grammatical forms, and also for its historical and mythological stories (akhyāna) which indicate rituals and beliefs of those times. It describes few religious beliefs which are not found elsewhere and this attests that Jaiminīya Upaniṣad Brāhmaṇa would be of earlier times. Importance of Om and Gāyatri is described here again and again. Like other Brāhmaṇa texts it does not elaborate rituals in length but gives more space to Sāma-upāsanā. This may be the reason why it is considered as an Jaiminīya Upaniṣad Brāhmaṇa. Through its contents, it looks close to Chāndogya Upaniṣad.