Editing Upanishads (section)

===Authorship===
The authorship of most Upanishads is unknown. [[Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan]] states, "almost all the early literature of India was anonymous, we do not know the names of the authors of the Upanishads".<ref name=sradha22>S Radhakrishnan, [https://archive.org/stream/PrincipalUpanishads/129481965-The-Principal-Upanishads-by-S-Radhakrishnan#page/n25/mode/2up The Principal Upanishads] George Allen & Co., 1951, pages 22, Reprinted as {{ISBN|978-8172231248}}</ref> The ancient Upanishads are embedded in the Vedas, the oldest of Hinduism's religious scriptures, which some traditionally consider to be ''[[apauruṣeya]]'', which means "not of a man, superhuman"<ref>Vaman Shivaram Apte, [http://www.aa.tufs.ac.jp/~tjun/sktdic/ ''The Practical Sanskrit-English Dictionary''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150515160048/http://www.aa.tufs.ac.jp/~tjun/sktdic/ |date=15 May 2015 }}, see apauruSeya</ref> and "impersonal, authorless".<ref>D Sharma, Classical Indian Philosophy: A Reader, Columbia University Press, ISBN, pages 196-197</ref><ref>Jan Westerhoff (2009), Nagarjuna's Madhyamaka: A Philosophical Introduction, Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0195384963}}, page 290</ref><ref>Warren Lee Todd (2013), The Ethics of Śaṅkara and Śāntideva: A Selfless Response to an Illusory World, {{ISBN|978-1409466819}}, page 128</ref> The Vedic texts assert that they were skillfully created by ''[[Rishi]]s'' (sages), after inspired creativity, just as a carpenter builds a chariot.<ref name=scharfe>Hartmut Scharfe (2002), Handbook of Oriental Studies, BRILL Academic, {{ISBN|978-9004125568}}, pages 13-14</ref>

The various philosophical theories in the early Upanishads have been attributed to famous sages such as [[Yajnavalkya]], [[Uddalaka Aruni]], [[Shvetaketu]], [[Sandilya (Rishi)|Shandilya]], Aitareya, Balaki, [[Pippalada]], and [[Sanatkumara]].<ref name=sradha22/>{{sfn|Mahadevan|1956|pp=59-60}} Women, such as Maitreyi and [[Gargi Vachaknavi|Gargi]], participate in the dialogues and are also credited in the early Upanishads.<ref>Ellison Findly (1999), [https://www.jstor.org/stable/25002352 Women and the Arahant Issue in Early Pali Literature] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160604033550/http://www.jstor.org/stable/25002352 |date=4 June 2016 }}, Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, Vol. 15, No. 1, pages 57-76</ref> There are some exceptions to the anonymous tradition of the Upanishads. The [[Shvetashvatara Upanishad]], for example, includes closing credits to sage ''Shvetashvatara'', and he is considered the author of the Upanishad.<ref>Paul Deussen, Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Volume 1, Motilal Banarsidass, {{ISBN|978-8120814684}}, pages 301-304</ref>

Many scholars believe that early Upanishads were interpolated<ref>For example, see: [https://archive.org/stream/thirteenprincipa028442mbp#page/n327/mode/2up/search/interpolation Kaushitaki Upanishad] Robert Hume (Translator), Oxford University Press, page 306 footnote 2</ref> and expanded over time. There are differences within manuscripts of the same Upanishad discovered in different parts of South Asia, differences in non-Sanskrit version of the texts that have survived, and differences within each text in terms of meter,<ref>Max Müller, {{Google books|l1ApAAAAYAAJ|The Upanishads|page=PR72}}, Oxford University Press, page LXXII</ref> style, grammar and structure.<ref>Patrick Olivelle (1998), Unfaithful Transmitters, Journal of Indian Philosophy, April 1998, Volume 26, Issue 2, pages 173-187;<br />Patrick Olivelle (2014), The Early Upanishads, Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0195124354}}, pages 583-640</ref><ref>WD Whitney, The Upanishads and Their Latest Translation, The American Journal of Philology, Vol. 7, No. 1, pages 1-26;<br />F Rusza (2010), The authorlessness of the philosophical sūtras, Acta Orientalia, Volume 63, Number 4, pages 427-442</ref> The existing texts are believed to be the work of many authors.<ref>Mark Juergensmeyer et al. (2011), Encyclopedia of Global Religion, SAGE Publications, {{ISBN|978-0761927297}}, page 1122</ref>