§ 1. Vedānta, The Vedas' End.—The Sanskrit word Vedānta (veda-anta) signifies "end" or "bound of the Vedas." It was originally given, at a somewhat advanced stage of their development, to the works called Upanishads, and subsequently to the various philosophies claiming to be based upon them. Besides the Upanishads, one of these philosophies will be noticed in the following pages, namely the system promulgated in the ninth century by Śankara in his great commentary (Śārīraka-bhāshya) upon the epitome of Upanishadic doctrine commonly known as the Brahma-sūtra, or "Aphorisms of Brahma," and traditionally ascribed to one or the other of the legendary sages Bādarāyaṇa and Vyāsa.
