There are six major schools of orthodox Indian Hindu philosophy—Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Samkhya, Yoga, Mīmāṃsā and Vedanta, and five major heterodox schools—Jain, Buddhist, Ajivika, Ajñana, and Cārvāka. However, there are other methods of classification; Vidyaranya for instance identifies sixteen schools of Indian philosophy by including those that belong to the Śaiva and Raseśvara traditions.
The main schools of Indian philosophy were formalised chiefly between 1000 BCE to the early centuries of the Common Era. Competition and integration between the various schools was intense during their formative years, especially between 800 BCE and 200 CE. Some schools like Jainism, Buddhism, Yoga, Śaiva and Vedanta survived, but others, like Ajñana, Charvaka and Ājīvika did not.
Ancient and medieval era texts of Indian philosophies include extensive discussions on Ontology (metaphysics, Brahman-Atman, Sunyata-Anatta), reliable means of knowledge (epistemology, Pramanas), value system (axiology) and other topics.
The main schools of Indian philosophy were formalised chiefly between 1000 BCE to the early centuries of the Common Era. Competition and integration between the various schools was intense during their formative years, especially between 800 BCE and 200 CE. Some schools like Jainism, Buddhism, Yoga, Śaiva and Vedanta survived, but others, like Ajñana, Charvaka and Ājīvika did not.
Ancient and medieval era texts of Indian philosophies include extensive discussions on Ontology (metaphysics, Brahman-Atman, Sunyata-Anatta), reliable means of knowledge (epistemology, Pramanas), value system (axiology) and other topics.
Common themes
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Indian philosophies share many concepts such as dharma, karma, samsara, reincarnation, dukkha, renunciation, meditation,
with almost all of them focusing on the ultimate goal of liberation of
the individual through diverse range of spiritual practices (moksha, nirvana).
They differ in their assumptions about the nature of existence as well
as the specifics of the path to the ultimate liberation, resulting in
numerous schools that disagreed with each other. Their ancient doctrines
span the diverse range of philosophies found in other ancient cultures.
Orthodox schools
Hindu philosophy has a diversity of traditions and numerous saints and scholars, such as Adi Shankara of Advaita Vedanta school.
Many Hindu
intellectual traditions were classified during the medieval period of
Brahmanic-Sanskritic scholasticism into a standard list of six orthodox (Astika) schools (darshanas), the "Six Philosophies" (ṣaḍ-darśana), all of which accept the testimony of the Vedas.
- Samkhya, the rationalism school with dualism and atheistic themes
- Yoga, a school similar to Samkhya but accepts personally defined theistic themes
- Nyaya, the realism school emphasizing analytics and logic
- Vaisheshika, the naturalism school with atomistic themes and related to the Nyaya school
- Purva Mimamsa (or simply Mimamsa), the ritualism school with Vedic exegesis and philology emphasis, and
- Vedanta (also called Uttara Mimamsa), the Upanishadic tradition, with many sub-schools ranging from dualism to nondualism.
These are often coupled into three groups for both historical and
conceptual reasons: Nyaya-Vaishesika, Samkhya-Yoga, and Mimamsa-Vedanta.
The Vedanta school is further divided into six sub-schools: Advaita (monism/nondualism), also includes the concept of Ajativada, Visishtadvaita (monism of the qualified whole), Dvaita (dualism), Dvaitadvaita (dualism-nondualism), Suddhadvaita, and Achintya Bheda Abheda schools.
Besides these schools Mādhava Vidyāraṇya also includes the
following of the aforementioned theistic philosophies based on the
Agamas and Tantras:
- Pasupata, school of Shaivism by Nakulisa
- Saiva, the theistic Sankhya school
- Pratyabhijña, the recognitive school
- Raseśvara, the mercurial school
- Pāṇini Darśana, the grammarian school (which clarifies the theory of Sphoṭa)
The systems mentioned here are not the only orthodox systems, they
are the chief ones, and there are other orthodox schools. These systems,
accept the authority of Vedas and are regarded as orthodox (astika)
schools of Hindu philosophy; besides these, schools that do not accept
the authority of the Vedas are heterodox (nastika) systems such as
Buddhism, Jainism, Ajivika and Cārvāka.
This orthodox-heterodox terminology is a construct of Western
languages, and lacks scholarly roots in Sanskrit. According to Andrew
Nicholson, there have been various heresiological
translations of Āstika and Nāstika in 20th century literature on Indian
philosophies, but quite many are unsophisticated and flawed.
- Cārvāka / Charvaka is a materialistic and atheistic school of thought and, is noteworthy as evidence of a materialistic movement within Hinduism.
According to Ben-Ami Scharfstein Aruni and Yagnavalkya who lived in 8th century BCE along with Parshvanatha are one of the earliest recorded philosophers in human history.
Heterodox (Śramaṇic schools)
Several Śramaṇic movements have existed before the 6th century BCE, and these influenced both the āstika and nāstika traditions of Indian philosophy. The Śramaṇa movement gave rise to diverse range of heterodox beliefs, ranging from accepting or denying the concept of soul, atomism,
antinomian ethics, materialism, atheism, agnosticism, fatalism to free
will, idealization of extreme asceticism to that of family life, strict ahimsa (non-violence) and vegetarianism to permissibility of violence and meat-eating. Notable philosophies that arose from Śramaṇic movement were Jainism, early Buddhism, Cārvāka, Ajñana and Ājīvika.
Ajñana philosophy
Ajñana was one of the nāstika or "heterodox" schools of ancient
Indian philosophy, and the ancient school of radical Indian skepticism.
It was a Śramaṇa movement and a major rival of early Buddhism and
Jainism. They have been recorded in Buddhist and Jain texts. They held
that it was impossible to obtain knowledge of metaphysical nature or
ascertain the truth value of philosophical propositions; and even if
knowledge was possible, it was useless and disadvantageous for final
salvation. They were sophists who specialised in refutation without
propagating any positive doctrine of their own.
Jain philosophy
Rishabhanatha, believed to have lived over a million years ago, is considered the founder of Jain philosophy.
Jain philosophy is the oldest Indian philosophy that separates body (matter) from the soul (consciousness) completely. Jainism was revived and re-established after Mahavira, the last and the 24th Tirthankara,
synthesised and revived the philosophies and promulgations of the
ancient Śramaṇic traditions laid down by the first Jain tirthankara Rishabhanatha millions of years ago. According to Dundas, outside of the Jain tradition, historians date the Mahavira as about contemporaneous with the Buddha in the 5th-century BC, and accordingly the historical Parshvanatha, based on the c. 250-year gap, is placed in 8th or 7th century BC.
Jainism is a Śramaṇic religion and rejected the authority of the Vedas. However, like all Indian religions, it shares the core concepts such as karma, ethical living, rebirth, samsara and moksha. Jainism places strong emphasis on asceticism, ahimsa (non-violence) and anekantavada (relativity of viewpoints) as a means of spiritual liberation, ideas that influenced other Indian traditions.
Jainism strongly upholds the individualistic nature of soul and personal
responsibility for one's decisions; and that self-reliance and
individual efforts alone are responsible for one's liberation. According
to the Jain philosophy, the world (Saṃsāra) is full of hiṃsā (violence). Therefore, one should direct all his efforts in attainment of Ratnatraya, that are Samyak Darshan, Samyak Gnana, and Samyak Chàritra which are the key requisites to attain liberation.
Buddhist philosophy
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The Buddhist philosophy is based on the teachings of the Buddha.
Buddhist philosophy is a system of thought which started with the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, or "awakened one". Buddhism is founded on elements of the Śramaṇa movement,
which flowered in the first half of the 1st millennium BCE, but its
foundations contain novel ideas not found or accepted by other Sramana
movements. Buddhism and Hinduism mutually influenced each other and
shared many concepts, states Paul Williams, however it is now difficult
to identify and describe these influences. Buddhism rejected the Vedic concepts of Brahman (ultimate reality) and Atman (soul, self) at the foundation of Hindu philosophies.
Buddhism shares many philosophical views with other Indian systems, such as belief in karma – a cause-and-effect relationship, samsara – ideas about cyclic afterlife and rebirth, dharma – ideas about ethics, duties and values, impermanence of all material things and of body, and possibility of spiritual liberation (nirvana or moksha). A major departure from Hindu and Jain philosophy is the Buddhist rejection of an eternal soul (atman) in favour of anatta (non-Self).
Monastic life has been a part of all Indian philosophy traditions. Mendicant caves of extinct Ājīvikas in Bihar.
Ājīvika philosophy
The philosophy of Ājīvika was founded by Makkhali Gosala, it was a Śramaṇa movement and a major rival of early Buddhism and Jainism. Ājīvikas were organised renunciates who formed discrete monastic communities prone to an ascetic and simple lifestyle.
Original scriptures of the Ājīvika school of philosophy may once
have existed, but these are currently unavailable and probably lost.
Their theories are extracted from mentions of Ajivikas in the secondary
sources of ancient Indian literature, particularly those of Jainism and
Buddhism which polemically criticized the Ajivikas. The Ājīvika school is known for its Niyati
doctrine of absolute determinism (fate), the premise that there is no
free will, that everything that has happened, is happening and will
happen is entirely preordained and a function of cosmic principles. Ājīvika considered the karma doctrine as a fallacy. Ājīvikas were atheists and rejected the authority of the Vedas, but they believed that in every living being is an ātman – a central premise of Hinduism and Jainism.
Cārvāka philosophy
Cārvāka or Lokāyata was a philosophy of scepticism and materialism, founded in the Mauryan
period. They were extremely critical of other schools of philosophy of
the time. Cārvāka deemed Vedas to be tainted by the three faults of
untruth, self-contradiction, and tautology. Likewise they faulted Buddhists and Jains, mocking the concept of liberation, reincarnation and accumulation of merit or demerit through karma. They believed that, the viewpoint of relinquishing pleasure to avoid pain was the "reasoning of fools".
Comparison of Indian philosophies
The
Indian traditions subscribed to diverse philosophies, significantly
disagreeing with each other as well as orthodox Hinduism and its six
schools of Hindu philosophy. The differences ranged from a belief that every individual has a soul (self, atman) to asserting that there is no soul,
from axiological merit in a frugal ascetic life to that of a hedonistic
life, from a belief in rebirth to asserting that there is no rebirth.
| Ājīvika | Early Buddhism | Cārvāka | Jainism | Orthodox schools of Hinduism (Non-Śramaṇic) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Karma | Denies | Affirms | Denies | Affirms | Affirms |
| Samsara, Rebirth | Affirms | Affirms | Denies | Affirms | Some school affirm, some not |
| Ascetic life | Affirms | Affirms | Affirms | Affirms | Affirms as Sannyasa |
| Rituals, Bhakti | Affirms | Affirms, optional (Pali: Bhatti) |
Denies | Affirms, optional | Theistic school: Affirms, optional Others: Deny |
| Ahimsa and Vegetarianism | Affirms | Affirms, Unclear on meat as food |
Strongest proponent of non-violence; Vegetarianism to avoid violence against animals |
Affirms as highest virtue, but Just War affirmed Vegetarianism encouraged, but choice left to the Hindu | |
| Free will | Denies | Affirms | Affirms | Affirms | Affirms |
| Maya | Affirms | Affirms (prapañca) |
Denies | Affirms | Affirms |
| Atman (Soul, Self) | Affirms | Denies | Denies | Affirms | Affirms |
| Creator God | Denies | Denies | Denies | Denies | Theistic schools: Affirm Others: Deny |
| Epistemology (Pramana) |
Pratyakṣa, Anumāṇa, Śabda |
Pratyakṣa, Anumāṇa |
Pratyakṣa | Pratyakṣa, Anumāṇa, Śabda |
Various, Vaisheshika (two) to Vedanta (six): Pratyakṣa (perception), Anumāṇa (inference), Upamāṇa (comparison and analogy), Arthāpatti (postulation, derivation), Anupalabdi (non-perception, negative/cognitive proof), Śabda (Reliable testimony) |
| Epistemic authority | Denies: Vedas | Affirms: Buddha text Denies: Vedas |
Denies: Vedas | Affirms: Jain Agamas Denies: Vedas |
Affirm: Vedas and Upanishads, Affirm: other texts |
| Salvation (Soteriology) |
Samsdrasuddhi | Nirvana (realize Śūnyatā) |
Siddha | Moksha, Nirvana, Kaivalya Advaita, Yoga, others: Jivanmukti Dvaita, theistic: Videhamukti | |
| Metaphysics (Ultimate Reality) |
Śūnyatā | Anekāntavāda | Brahman |
Political philosophy
The Arthashastra, attributed to the Mauryan minister Chanakya, is one of the early Indian texts devoted to political philosophy. It is dated to 4th century BCE and discusses ideas of statecraft and economic policy.
The political philosophy most closely associated with modern India is the one of ahimsa (non-violence) and Satyagraha, popularised by Mahatma Gandhi during the Indian struggle for independence. In turn it influenced the later movements for independence and civil rights, especially those led by Martin Luther King, Jr. and Nelson Mandela.
Influence
In appreciation of complexity of the Indian philosophy, T S Eliot wrote that the great philosophers of India "make most of the great European philosophers look like schoolboys". Arthur Schopenhauer used Indian philosophy to improve upon Kantian thought. In the preface to his book The World As Will And Representation,
Schopenhauer writes that one who "has also received and assimilated the
sacred primitive Indian wisdom, then he is the best of all prepared to
hear what I have to say to him" The 19th century American philosophical movement Transcendentalism was also influenced by Indian thought
