1851.] Review of " A Lecture on the Sankhya Philosophy" 405 



From this there appears no doubt, that the commentary is one 

 of the oldest works of the school, as it is ascribed there to Asuri, 

 the disciple of Kapila. This statement, however, is disapproved by 

 the commentary itself, where, among the earliest teachers of the San- 

 khya, Asuri and his disciple Panchas'ikha are enumerated. At any 



In olden times a certain Bramhana, the disciple of Kapila, Asuri by name, over- 

 whelmed by the three kinds of pain, (viz. the pain arising from one's own nature, 

 mental or bodily, from external animated agents, and from external inanimate 

 agencies) took refuge with the great Rishi Kapila, the teacher of the Sankhya, 

 and having told him his name and race, he said : O venerable, great Rishi, Kapila, 

 what is truth in this world, and what must I do to obtain the object of life? To 

 this Kapila replied : I will tell you. 1. Eight producers, 2. Sixteen productions, 

 3. The soul, 4. The three qualities, 5. Evolution, 6. Revolution, 7. The ministers 

 of the soul, 8. The province of organs, 9. The superintending deities, 10. The 

 five modifications of intellect, 11. The five sources of action, 12. The five vital 

 airs, 13. The five, whose nature is action, 14. The five-fold ignorance, 15. Dis- 

 ability of twenty-eight kinds, 16. Acquiescence of nine kinds, 17. Perfection of eight 

 kinds, 18. The radical facts of ten kinds, 19. Benevolent creation, 20. Created 

 existences of fourteen kinds, 21. Parental creation of three kinds, 22. Bondage 

 of three kinds, 23. Liberation of three kinds, 24. Proof of three kinds, 25. Pain 

 of three kinds, — this is the truth supreme. Having thoroughly understood this, a 

 person will obtain the object of life, and not be subject again to the three kinds of 

 pain. Kapila, having composed those Sutras of the Sankhya, thus instructed his 

 disciple, Asuri by name. Asuri then saluted his teacher with the following verse : 

 " Salutation to the great Rishi Kapila, who obtained at the first creation the know- 

 ledge of the 25 principles by his birth," and having promised : " Now we shall 

 explain" the aphorisms of the Sankhya with regard to the principles, commenced 

 in this manner : " A certain Brahmana." By not telling in this manner his name, 

 he was desirous of showing his humility, and having given the account according 

 to truth, and told, that : " Kapila replied," he set forth the aphorisms, declared 

 by Kapila, in the first of which the " Producers" are named. Having in this man- 

 ner engaged himself, he composed a commentary to the aphorisms of the Sankhya, 

 and instructed his disciple Panchas'ikha by name. It is said in the Karika, in the 

 70th Sloka: " This great purifying (doctrine) the sage compassionately imparted to 

 Asuri, Asuri taught it to Panchas'ikha, by whom it was extensively propagated." 

 The Sutras, under the name of I'swara Krishta give the sense of this commentary. 

 Therefore he explained the 25 principles of the Sankhya by 72 Karikas. Thus 

 goes the ancient account. 



2 g 2 



