Vedanta and Upanishads

The Origin of the term Vedanta
The term Vedanta literally meant ‘end of the Vedas’ or वेद्स्य अन्त: (Vedasya antaha) and deals with conclusion and goal of the Vedas and they represented the central aim and meaning of the teachings of the Veda.
The Vedas- an Introduction
The name Veda (वेद:) signifies wisdom, a genuine spirit of enquiry derived from the knowledge of Vedic Sages (Munis) who travelled the path of deep contemplation with a desire to investigate, inquire and understand the  questions of philosophical nature pertaining to various aspect of our lives, spirituality, music, science and cosmos.
Most followers of Hinduism know that there are four vedas, now let us look a bit deeper into the meaning and context of each of the four vedas:
Rig Veda: The oldest document of the human history and oldest of the four vedas. Rg Veda comprises of songs of praise Rigvedic hymns are dedicated to deities, such as Indra, Vrtra; Agni, and Soma, including deities such as Adityias or Asura, gods Mitra–Varuna and Ushas (the dawn), Brihaspati or Brahmanaspati, along with natural phenomenons.
Yajur Veda: The Yajur veda primarily deals with sacrificial formulas or mantras and includes about 1,875 verses, that are distinct yet borrow and build upon the foundation of verses in Rigveda.
Sam Veda: The Samaveda is the Veda of Chants, or melodies (sāman) and the Rig verses. The Samaveda text contains notated melodies, and these are probably the world's oldest surviving ones.
Atharva Veda: The Atharva veda was the last of the vedas to be compiled around 900 BCE and involves rites to address superstitious anxiety, spells to remove maladies believed to be caused by demons, and herbs- and nature-derived potions as medicine (origin of Ayurveda is attributed to Atharva Vedic texts). Atharva veda also has been the primary source for information about Vedic culture, the customs and beliefs, the aspirations and frustrations of everyday Vedic life, as well as those associated with kings and governance. The text also includes hymns dealing with the two major rituals of passage – marriage and cremation.
Sections of the Vedas: Each  Veda comprises of four sections, which are

1. Samhita: These are collection of hymns, mantras, prayers, benedictions and sacrificial formulas for yagna.
2. Brahmanas: These are prose treaties discussing and explaining the solemn rituals, ceremonies. Each of the Brahmanas is associated with one of the Samhitas.
   
3. Aranyakas: The "forest treaties", were composed by people who meditated in the woods as recluses and are the third part of the Vedas. The texts contain discussions and interpretations of ceremonies, from ritualistic to symbolic meta-ritualistic points of view. Aranyakas are partly recognised as independent texts.
4. Upanishads:  The term is derived from Upa: near, ni: down and sad: sit, that is sitting down near, where a group of students (shishyas) sit near their teacher (guru) to learn from him the sacred doctrines.

Upanishads and their relation to Vedas
As part of the Vedas the Upanishads belong to Sruti or revealed literature and are vehicles for more of spiritual illumination than of systemic reflection, revealing a world of rich and varied spiritual experience, rather than a world of abstract philosophical categories. One of the chief reason the Upanishads are called the end of the Vedas or Vedanta as they deal with conclusion and goal of the Vedas and they represented the central aim and meaning of the teachings of the Veda, thus the content of the Upanishads is the wisdom of the Vedas.
The principal or mukhya Upanishads are said to be Ten (10) although most scholars consider them to be thirteen (13). However the great Samkara commented on Eleven (11) Upanishads.
Each Upanishad is associated with one or more than one Veda.

Name of the Upanishad                      Vedas to which they are associated
Isa Upanishad                                              Yajur Veda
Kena Upanishad                                           Sam Veda
Katha Upanishad                                         Yajur Veda
Prasna Upanishad                                        Atharva Veda
Maandukya Upanishad                                Atharva Veda
Taittriya Upanishad                                     YajurVeda
Aitareya Upanishad                                      Rig Veda
Chandogya Upanishad                                 Sam Veda
Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upanishad                           Yajur Veda
Shvetashvatara Upanishad                           Yajur Veda

References

1. The Principal Upanishads. S. RadhaKrishnan, Harper Collins.
2. Max Müller (1859). A History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature. Williams and Norgate, London. pp. 559–565.
3. Jamison and Witzel (1992), Vedic Hinduism, Harvard University, page 6
4. Encyclopædia Britannica (2013)
   
5. Image courtesy: Raja Ravi Varma - Sankaracharya. From Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository
   

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