Schools of Indian Philosophy

Indian philosophy grew out of a long tradition in which thinkers wrestled with the mysteries of life, death and what lies beyond them. Every school accepted four broad goals of life: Artha (wealth), Dharma (regulation of social order), Kama (pleasure) and Moksha (salvation). But the real aim was always moksha, deliverance from the endless cycle of birth and death. The schools split over how salvation is reached, and especially over whether the Vedas are the final authority. By the start of the Christian era this divide had hardened into two camps.

• Orthodox (astika) schools: accept the Vedas as supreme, revealed scripture and do not question their authenticity. They are six in number, collectively the Shada Darshana: Samkhya, Yoga, Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Mimamsa and Vedanta.
• Heterodox (nastika) schools: reject the originality of the Vedas and often question the existence of God. They are three: Charvaka, Buddhism and Jainism.

A useful way to remember the orthodox six is that they form natural pairs (Samkhya–Yoga, Nyaya–Vaisheshika, Mimamsa–Vedanta), sharing method or outlook within each pair.

The Samkhya school is the oldest of the orthodox systems, founded by Kapila (Kapil Muni), who is credited with the Samkhya Sutra. The word "Samkhya" literally means "count". It passed through two phases:

• Original (early) Samkhya, around the 1st century AD: held that no divine agency was needed to create the universe, which owed its existence to Prakriti (nature) alone. This was a rational, materialistic view.
• New Samkhya, around the 4th century AD: argued that along with nature, Purusha (spirit) was also necessary, so the world arose from nature and spirit coming together. This was a more spiritual view.

Both phases agreed that salvation comes through the acquisition of knowledge, and that lack of knowledge is the root of human misery. Its core teachings:

• Dualism (dvaitavada): soul and matter are separate, independent realities, and this distinction is the basis of all true knowledge.
• Prakriti and Purusha are absolute and independent. Purusha, linked to consciousness, is unchangeable, while Prakriti carries three attributes: thought, movement and transformation.
• Knowledge is gained through three means: Pratyaksha (perception), Anumana (inference) and Shabda (hearing/testimony).

Samkhya is remembered for its scientific system of inquiry.

The Yoga school takes its name from the union of two entities. It teaches that a human being can reach salvation by combining meditation with the physical practice of yogic techniques. These free the Purusha from Prakriti, leading to liberation. Its foundational text is the Yogasutra of Patanjali, dated tentatively to the 2nd century BCE.

Physical practice centres on postures (asanas) and breathing exercises (pranayamas). Beyond these, freedom (mukti) is pursued through a sequence of stages:

• Yama: practising self-control.
• Niyama: observing the rules that govern one's life.
• Pratyahara: choosing an object of focus.
• Dharana: fixing the mind on that chosen object.
• Dhyana: concentrating steadily on the object.
• Samadhi: the merging of mind and object that dissolves the self.

Yoga accepts God as a guide, mentor and teacher, and holds that these disciplines help one master mind, body and the senses and withdraw from worldly matter.

The Nyaya school, whose name means "logic", holds that life, death and salvation are mysteries that can be solved through logical and analytical thinking. Only real knowledge yields salvation. It was founded by Gautama (Akshapada Gautama), author of the Nyaya Sutra.

• It uses logical tools, namely inference, hearing (testimony) and analogy, to verify whether a proposition is true. A classic example: there is fire on the hill, because there is smoke, and everything that emits smoke contains fire.
• On God, it holds that the universe was created by God, who also sustains and destroys it.
• Its lasting contribution is an insistence on systematic reasoning as the route to truth.

The Vaisheshika school is the realist, objective philosophy of the physical universe. Its founder is Kanada (Maharshi Kanada), author of its basic text. It is closely paired with Nyaya as a logic-and-physics system.

• Everything in the universe is made from five elements (fire, air, water, earth and ether (sky)), together called Dravya.
• Reality falls into many categories, including action, attribute, genus, inherence, substance and distinct quality.
• It developed an early atomic theory: all material objects are made of atoms, and atoms and molecules combine to form matter. For this it is credited with the beginnings of physics in the Indian subcontinent.
• Despite its scientific bent it believes in God as the guiding principle, and in the law of karma. We are rewarded or punished for our actions, with God deciding merits and demerits. Salvation is tied to the cyclic creation and destruction of the universe.

Mimamsa means the art of reasoning, interpretation and application. It analyses the Samhita and Brahmana portions of the Vedas, treating them as eternal truth and the repository of all knowledge. Its foundational text is the Sutras of Jaimini, composed around the 3rd century BCE. It was later developed by two great proponents, Sabar Swami and Kumarila Bhatta.

• Salvation is possible through performing Vedic rituals, but one must also grasp the justification and reasoning behind each ritual to perform it perfectly.
• Actions determine one's merits and demerits. Meritorious acts earn the bliss of heaven for as long as they last. But only true salvation breaks the cycle of birth and death.
• Ordinary people could not understand the rituals, so they depended on priests. This reinforced the social distance between classes and helped Brahmans retain their dominance.

Vedanta combines "Veda" and "anta", meaning the "end of the Vedas". It builds on the philosophy of the Upanishads. Its oldest basis is the Brahmasutra of Badarayana, compiled in the 2nd century BCE.

• It teaches that Brahma is the sole reality of life and everything else is Maya (illusion).
• The Atma (self) is identical to Brahma. Knowing the self means knowing Brahma, and so attaining salvation. Both are therefore eternal and indestructible.
• It upholds the Theory of Karma and Punarjanama (rebirth), holding that one bears the consequences of past-life deeds in the next birth.

The school was reshaped by two major thinkers, who differed sharply:

• Shankaracharya (9th century AD) wrote commentaries on the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita. He founded Advaita Vedanta. He held Brahma to be without attributes, and knowledge (jnana) to be the main means of salvation.
• Ramanuja (12th century AD) held Brahma to possess attributes, and taught that loving faith and devotion (bhakti) are the path to salvation.

The devotional stream that Ramanuja championed reached a later peak in Chaitanya (Chaitanya Mahaprabhu), a 15th–16th century bhakti saint of Bengal who preached ecstatic devotion to Krishna. The chronological order to remember is Shankaracharya (9th century), Ramanuja (12th century) and Chaitanya (15th–16th century).

The Charvaka school, also called Lokayata, is the great materialist philosophy among the heterodox systems. Its foundation is attributed to Brihaspati. It is old enough to be mentioned in the Vedas and the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. Because it was geared towards ordinary people (loka), it came to be called Lokayata, a philosophy "derived from the common people" and attached to the physical, material world.

• It denies any world beyond this one and rejects any supernatural or divine agent that could regulate human conduct.
• It denies the need for salvation and rejects the existence of Brahma and God, accepting only what can be touched and experienced through the senses.
• It attacks priests, arguing that Brahmans invent false rituals to extract gifts (dakshina) from followers.
• It recognises only four elements (fire, earth, water and air), dropping ether (sky), which cannot be perceived.
• With no world after death, it makes pleasure the ultimate goal of life, summed up in its famous slogan: "eat, drink and make merry".

Buddhist philosophy stems from Gautama Buddha, born in 563 BCE at Lumbini in the foothills of Nepal. He renounced the world at 29 and attained enlightenment under a pipal tree at Bodhgaya. He then taught until his death at 80. After his death, a council at Rajagriha codified his teachings into three Pitakas:

• Vinaya Pitaka (rules of monastic order), recorded by Upali.
• Sutta Pitaka (Buddha's sermons and doctrines), recorded by Ananda.
• Abhidhamma Pitaka (Buddhist philosophy), recorded by Mahakashyap.

Buddhism teaches that the Vedas need not be trusted blindly. Liberation comes through realising the Four Noble Truths: life is full of suffering; the cause of suffering is desire; destroying desire ends suffering and leads to peace and nirvana; and one must move from suffering towards liberation. The way to nirvana is the Eightfold Path:

• Right Vision: remove ignorance and see the world as impermanent.
• Right Resolve: cultivate the will to destroy harmful desires, with sacrifice and kindness.
• Right Speech: avoid ill words and criticism of others.
• Right Conduct: keep away from actions that harm life and from craving material things.
• Right Means of Livelihood: earn honestly, shunning fraud, theft and bribery.
• Right Effort: guard against bad and sensual thoughts.
• Right Mindfulness: keep body, mind and health in proper form.
• Right Concentration: following the other seven, concentrate fully and attain nirvana.

Buddhist philosophy did not end with the Buddha. Later masters developed it into rival schools of thought. Nagarjuna founded the Madhyamaka (middle way) school of Buddhist philosophy. His disciple Aryadeva carried the Madhyamaka tradition forward. Aryadeva was thus a Buddhist philosopher, and it is a common error to label him a Jaina scholar. Dignaga was a Buddhist logician, a pioneer of Buddhist logic and theories of knowledge. Keep both distinct from Nathamuni, a Vaishnava acharya (religious teacher) of South India who compiled the Tamil devotional hymns of the Alvar saints. Nathamuni belongs to the Vaishnava devotional tradition, not to Buddhism.

Jain philosophy was first elaborated by the tirthankara Rishabhadeva (Adinath), the first of the 24 tirthankaras who guide the Jain religion. Aristanemi and Ajitnath were also important in spreading it. Like the Buddhists, Jains oppose the primacy of the Vedas for attaining salvation. They hold that man is surrounded by pain. Controlling the mind and regulating conduct can end suffering. This is done by seeking right perception, right knowledge and right conduct, together known as the three jewels (triratna), and practising brahmacharya (celibacy) to escape the cycle of birth and death. Jain conduct rests above all on non-violence (ahimsa), extended to every living being, however small.

• All things, natural and supernatural, rest on seven fundamental elements: jiva, ajiva, asrava, bandha, samvara, nirjara and moksha.
• Existence is of two kinds: Astikaya, which has a physical shape (like the body), and Anastikaya, which has none (like time).
• Everything possessing a substance (dravya) is the basis of its qualities. The substance is eternal and unchangeable, but its attributes keep changing. For example, consciousness is the substance of the soul, but mood (happy or sad) is the changing attribute.

The interpretive tradition that grew around the Vedas did not stop at philosophy. It also produced systems of civil law. From commentaries on the Smritis (ancient law codes) arose two great schools of Hindu law governing inheritance and the joint family.

• Mitakshara: a commentary on the Yajnavalkya Smriti, a foundational law code, written by the jurist Vijnaneshwara. It applied across most of India.
• Dayabhaga: a digest composed by the jurist Jimutavahana. It prevailed in Bengal and Assam.

The division between the two schools was regional, not caste-based. Neither was a separate law for upper or lower castes. The real difference lies in when sons acquire rights to family property. Under Mitakshara, a son acquires a right in ancestral property by birth. He can therefore claim a share during the lifetime of the father, as a coparcener in the joint family. Under Dayabhaga, the father holds the property absolutely while he lives. Sons can claim rights only after the father's death. Neither school dealt with male property alone. Both recognised property held by women, including stridhana, a woman's own wealth, though they differed in how widely they defined it.

Alongside the philosophical schools, devotional traditions centred on particular gods produced their own organised sects. Shaivism, the worship of Shiva as the supreme god, generated several ascetic orders in ancient India.

• Pashupata: the oldest Shaiva sect, traditionally founded by Lakulisha. Its followers smeared ashes and practised austere discipline.
• Kapalika: an extreme ascetic order whose members carried a skull bowl and practised severe rites.
• Kalamukha: a related ascetic order, strong in the Deccan, known for its monastic centres.
• Mattamayura: a Shaiva ascetic order of central India. Its monks ran influential monasteries and enjoyed the patronage of ruling dynasties such as the Kalachuris.

Care is needed with names that look similar but are not sects. The Ajivikas were an independent ascetic tradition founded by Makkhali Gosala, a contemporary of the Buddha, and were not Shaiva. The Mayamata is a text on temple architecture, not a community of believers. The Isanasivagurudevapaddhati is a ritual manual, a handbook of Shaiva worship procedures, again a text and not a sect.

Ancient Indian thinkers also developed a grand theory of time, a cosmogonic scheme explaining how the universe and human society move through repeating ages. Time runs in a cycle of four aeons (Yugas), in a fixed sequential order.

• Krita Yuga: also called Satya Yuga, the first and perfect age, when dharma stands complete.
• Treta Yuga: the second age, when virtue begins to decline.
• Dvapara Yuga: the third age, with dharma further weakened.
• Kali Yuga: the fourth and worst age, marked by strife and decay. The present age is held to be Kali Yuga.

The order Krita, Treta, Dvapara, Kali is fixed and must not be shuffled. The sequence expresses a progressive decline in dharma, often pictured as the bull of dharma losing one leg in each age. The durations of the four ages also shrink in the ratio 4:3:2:1. Together the four Yugas make one Mahayuga, and when Kali Yuga ends the cycle begins again with a new Krita Yuga.