But the most modern of these are older than the Brahmanas.

The Brahmanas contain theology; the older Mantras are liturgic.

Mueller says that the Brahmanas, though so very ancient, are full of pedantry, shallow and insipid grandiloquence and priestly conceit.

Next to these, in the order of time, are the Upanishads.
These are philosophical, and almost the only part of the Vedas which are read at the present time.

They are believed to contain the highest authority for the different philosophical systems, of which we shall speak hereafter.