SANSKRIT 



153 



The MimfatisA or properly P&rva-MimAijisA, 

 ' Prior Inquiry ' is mainly a systematic exposition 

 of the principles of scriptural interpretation. Its 

 chief object is to maintain the authority of the 

 Veda, and to urge the necessity of performing the 

 duties enjoined therein, especially those of a cere- 

 monial "kiml, with a view to securing the benefits, 

 temporal and eternal, accruing from these meri- 

 torious works as the logical effect of an operative 

 cause. A philosophical basis is secured for these 

 dogmatic theories by the inclusion of verbal com- 

 munication (s'abda) among the five or six sources 

 of knowledge, or modes of proof, agreed upon by 

 both schools of the Mimamsa. The sage Jaimini 

 is the reputed founder of this school, and author of 

 it> fundamental sutras, which were afterwards com- 

 mented upon and supplemented by S'abara Svamin 

 (? c. 500 A.D.) and Kumarila Bhatta (c. 700). 



The Veddnta, i.e. 'end of the Veda' as the Ut- 

 tnrii Mimainsd ( 'Later Inquiry') is more commonly 

 called is the system most closely in accord with 

 the development of religious thought in Brahmani- 

 cal India. In its main features it simply formu- 

 lates and carries on the speculations of the older 

 Upanishads. According to this system, God is 

 the omniscient and omnipotent cause, efficient as 

 well as material, of the world : He is both creator 

 and nature ; and at the consummation of things 

 all are resolved into Him. The individual soul 

 is of the same essence as the supreme one ; it 

 emanates from Him like one of the sparks that 

 issue from a blazing fire, and ultimately returns to 

 Him. It is not a free agent, but ruled by God ; its 

 activity the source of its suffering being solely 

 due to its bodily organs. Whilst the evolution of 

 the elements and organised bodies is minutely 

 expounded in the original aphorisms the Brahma- 

 sutras of Badarayana the questions as to the 

 rauon d'etre of material existence and the origin of 

 evil find no satisfactory explanation. It is only by 

 a later school of Vedftntists, represented by the 

 famous theologian S'ankara acharya (q.v.), in his 

 commentary on those sutras, that a solution is 

 found in the theory that the material world has no 

 real existence, but is a mere illusion (maya). This 

 school is called the Advaita, or non-duality, school 

 of Vedanta philosophy. In opposition to it arose 

 two other schools, both of which identify the 

 dupriMnu spirit with Vishnu viz. that of RAmAnuja 

 (llth century), the founder of the S'rl-Vaishnava 

 ect, usually called the Vis? isht Advaita, or qualified 

 non-duality school, because they allow the Brah- 

 man to be ' qualified ' by all good qualities, and 

 to be ' distinct ' from matter ; and the school of 

 Madhva-acharya (12th century), called the Dvatta, 

 or duality, school from their maintaining the 

 supreme spirit to be distinct both from man and 

 from matter. These schools in fact show a certain 

 taming towards Sankhya doctrines. The Kamii- 

 nujas and other Vaishnava sects especially the 

 one founded by Chaitanya (c. 1500) have, more- 

 over, grafted on the Vedanta the doctrine and 

 M;i.-tires of bhakti (implicit faith, fervent de- 

 votion ), which had early found expression in works 

 siu'li as the famous philosophic episode of the 

 Mahabharata, the Bhagavadgita (trans, by J. C. 

 Thomson, and by K. T. Telang), and the Bhaga- 

 vatapurana, and had been formulated in the SA#- 

 dilya- Bhakti- sutra (trans, by E. B. Cowell). 



The S&nkhya system, as propounded in the 

 Sankhya-sutras ascribed to Kapila, represents the 

 materialistic school of orthodox Indian philosophy. 

 It maintains the eternal co-existence of a material 

 first cause the miila-prakriti, or prime originant 

 (plastic nature); also called pradndna, or ' prin- 

 etpal (cause)' and a plurality of spiritual entities 

 is (purusha) connected with matter from all 

 eternity. From the material first cause, devoid of 



intelligence, the phenomenal universe has been 

 developed by a gradual process of unconscious evolu- 

 tion. The school, thus denying the existence of 

 an intelligent ruler ( is'vara ), is often called ' godless ' 

 (niris'vara). The most popular summary of the 

 doctrines of this system is the Sankhya-sara ( trans. 

 by H. J. ColebrooUe, and by J. Davies), by Vijnana 

 Bhikslm (16th century). 



The Yoga school, founded by Patanjali, accepts 

 the speculative system of the Sankhya with its 

 twenty-four principles ; but adds thereto a twenty- 

 fifth viz. the ' nirgmut Ptirusha ' ( ' the self devoid 

 of attributes'), the supreme god of the school, 

 whence the Yoga is also called the Theistic 

 (ses'vara) Sankhya. Moreover, the school lias 

 developed, as its most characteristic feature, a 

 complicated system of ascetic practices for the 

 mortification of the senses, with a view to bringing 

 about, even during life, a spiritual union (yoga) 

 with the supreme spirit. 



The Nyaya and Vais'eshika, though differing 

 from each other on some important points, such as 

 the number of the modes of proof, may be con- 

 sidered as two branches of a single analytical 

 system of philosophy which supplement each other 

 and are commonly studied together. The Ny&ya 

 (lit. 'method,' 'rule'), ascribed to Gotama (or 

 Gautama, also called Akshapada), though, like the 

 other systems, it professes to deal with the whole 

 round of metaphysical subjects necessary for com- 

 plete knowledge and final emancipation, is especially 

 remarkable for the very complete system of dialec- 

 tics which it has developed, and which has gained 

 for it the title of the Hindu science of logic. A 

 regular argument, or complete syllogism (nyaya), 

 according to this system, consists of five members 

 viz. (a) the proposition (pratijiia): e.g. 'this hill 

 is fiery ; ' ( b ) the reason ( hetu ) : ' for it smokes ; ' 

 (c) tne instance (iidaharana) : 'as a culinary 

 hearth;' (d) the application (upanayana) : 'accord- 

 ingly the hill is smoking;' (e) the conclusion 

 (nigamana) : 'therefore it is fiery.' The Vais'e- 

 shika system, put forward by Kanada, also called 

 Kas'yapa, whilst on the whole accepting the 

 analytical principles of the Nyaya, occupies itself 

 more especially with the physical or cosmic aspect 

 of metaphysics ; its name being derived from the 

 assumption of atoms (anu), or ultimate substances 

 possessed of separate individuality (or 'particu- 

 larity,' vis'esha ), which are innumerable and eternal, 

 and of which the phenomenal world is composed. 

 Their aggregation, according to the original view 

 of the school, is caused by an invisible force 

 (adrishta), whilst at a later stage it is ascribed to 

 a supreme soul ( paramatman ), distinct from the 

 individual souls (jivdtman) forming the immaterial 

 atoms. 



Of heterodox systems of philosophy besides 

 those of the Jainas (q.v.) arid Buddhists (q.v.) 

 only one deserves special mention viz. the Char- 

 vAkas, or Lok&yatikas ( ' materialists ' ). The doc- 

 trines of this school, traditionally ascrilwd to 

 Brihaspati, admit but one source of knowledge and 

 proof viz. perception. According to them there is 

 neither a supreme spirit, nor a future life, nor a 

 soul distinct from the body ; and the sole end of 

 man is enjoyment derived from sensual pleasures. 



A kind of mystic philosophy in the sense in 

 which the peculiar practices of the Yoga are re- 

 garded as such underlies the doctrines promul- 

 gated by the Tantras, the religious text-books of 

 the numerous sects of S'Aktas i.e. worshippers of 

 the s'akti, or active divine energy, personified in 

 some female deity, especially in one of the many 

 forms of Parvatf, the wife of S'iva. In its origin, 

 the worship of the female principle a* a means of 

 obtaining transcendental powers is probably based 

 on the Sankhya notion of tiin pra/criti (fern.) or 



