Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies (Volume -IV) Samkhya

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Item Code: IHE074
Publisher: MOTILAL BANARSIDASS PUBLISHERS PVT. LTD.
Author: Larson & Bhattacharya
Language: English
Edition: 2012
ISBN: 9788120803114
Pages: 690
Cover: Hardcover
Other Details 9.7" X 6.5"
Weight 1.19 kg
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Book Description

From the jacket

Samkhya is one of India’s oldest philosophical systems, and this volume of the Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies, coedited by Gernald James Larson and Ram Shankar Bhattacharya, and under the general editorship of Karl H.Potter, traces the history of the system from its beginnings in the third or fourth century. The volume includes a lengthy Introduction (written by G.J. Larson) which discusses the history of the system and its philosophical contours overall. The remainder of the volume includes summaries in English of all extant Sanskrit texts of the Samkhya system. Many of the summaries are of texts that have never been edited, translated of studied before, most notably extensive treatments of the Yuktidipika, the samkhyavrtti and the Samkhyasaptativrtti. The volume is designed for philosophers, cultural historians and students of comparative studies generally. In addition, since the volume contains so much material that also prove to be of interest to area specialists, Indologists and Sanskritists.

Gerald James Larson is professor of the history of religions, Department of religions studies, university of California, Santa Barbara, USA. He is the author of Classical Samkhya: An Interpretation of its History and meaning (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1979; revised second edition); Myth in Indo-European Antiquity (coedited with C.scott Littleton and J. Puhvel, University of California press, 1974); and In her Image (coedited with P. Pal and R. Gowen, regents of the University of California, 1980); and numerous articles on Indian philosophy and religion.

Ram Shankar Bhattacharya is editor of the journal Purana; senior research scholar in the all India Kashiraj Trust, Fort Ramnagar, Varanasi; and was for some years in the research department of Sampurnananda Sanskrit University, Varanasi, he is the author of numerous editions, translations and studies of original Sanskrit texts in Hindi, Bengali, Sanskrit and English.

 

Preface

Many years ago when I met the great Gopinath kaviraj for the first time in Varanasi, he inquired about my word. I commented that I was working on one of the ancient systems of Indian philosophy, namely, the Samakhya. He impatiently waved his hand to interrupt me. "Samkhya," he said, "is not one of the systems of Indian philosophy. Sankhya is the philosophy of India!" He was referring, of course, to the ancient period, but he also went on to stress the remarkable influence that Samkhya has had on almost every phase of Indian culture and learning. Philosophy, mythology, theology, law, medicine, art, and the various traditions of Yoga and Tantra have all been touched by the categories and basic notions of the Samkhya. This is not at all to claim that these various areas of learning and cultural practice have accepted the dualist metaphysics of Samkhya or its overall classical systematic formulation. To the contrary, there have been intense polemics over the centuries against the Samkhya position. What is striking, however, is the ubiquitous presence of the Samkhya network of notions, functioning almost as a kind of cultural “code” (to use a semiotics idiom) to which intellectuals in every phase of cultural life in India have felt a need to respond.

The present volume of the Encyclopedia of Indian philosophies attempts to trace the history and to interpret the meaning of Samkhya philosophy from its beginnings in the ancient period to the present time, a period of some twenty- five hundred years. As might well be imagined, it has not been an easy task to accomplish this in one volume. Ram Shankar Bhattacharya and I have had to make some difficult editorial decisions by way of limiting the boundaries of our undertaking. One such decision concerned the manner in which we would treat ancient and/or "popular" (Nontechnical) Samkhya passages. For a time we considered the possibility of including summaries of Samkhya passages in the Upanisads, the Mahabharata (including the Bhagavadgita), the Puranas, the medical literature, and so forth. As we proceeded in our work, however, it became clear that these passages could be best treated in the Introduction to the present volume. More than that, it became clear that these passages represent what could be called "Proto-Samkhya" and should be clearly distinguished from what we are calling in the present volume "Pre-Karika-Samkhya." "karika-samkhya," "Patanjala- samkhya," "Karika-Kaumudi-samkhya," "Samasa-Samkhya," and "sutra-samkhya" (and see Introduction).

A second editorial decision concerned the manner in which we would deal with the extensive number of passages in Indian philosophical literature that criticize Samkhya from the perspective of other traditions, passages, for example, from Nyaya, vaisesika, Buddhist Jaina, Mimamsa, and Vedanta works. Again, for a time we considered the possibility of including at least some of these passages, but we ultimately determined that such passages appropriately belong in their own respective volumes in the Encyclopedia series and not in the Samkhya volume itself.

A third editorial decision concerned the manner in which we would deal with the issue of the literature of Yoga. Our own view is that "Patanjala-Samkhya" is an important type of samkhya philosophy and deserves to be treated as such, but we encountered the practical difficulty of some seventy Sanskrit texts on Yoga that should be considered. The only sensible solution appeared to be, therefore, to prepare a separate volume of the Encyclopedia series for the Yoga materials with appropriate cross-references in both the samkhya and Yoga volumes. Eventually, then, when both volumes are published, they can be used in tandem.

Apart from such external editorial decisions, that is to say, what to exclude from the volume, we also had to make a number of decisions regarding the internal boundaries of the volume. It was obvious from the beginning, for example, that three of our texts required special treatment, namely, the Samkhyakarika, the Tattvasamasasutra, and the Samkhyasutra. These are the three fundamental and primary texts of the tradition upon which most other texts are based, and each presented a unique problem. Because the Samkhyakarika is the oldest systematic text available, we thought it appropriate to present an extensive treatment of it. Indeed, the so-called "summary" of the Samkhyakarika in the volume is considerably longer than the original text itself! In our view, however, since our task was not that of translation but, rather, that of presenting an overview of te systematic philosophical arguments in the text, we felt justified in taking some liberties in unpacking those arguments. Regarding the Tattvasamasasutra, the problem was the reverse. The tattvasamasa is not really a text in any sense. It is a checklist of topics upon which several commentaries have been written. We have, therefore, presented it in its entirety as a checklist. The samkhyasutra, as is well known, is a late compilation, and there is no authoritative tradition either for the sequence of sutras or their interpretation apart from the reading and interpretation offered, first, by Aniruddha, and then later by Vijnanabhiksu (who generally follows Aniruddha, throughout). We have, therefore, presented the sutras themselves in a bare, outline form. We have, therefore, presented the sutras themselves in a bare, outline form. We have, then, presented a full summary of Aniruddha’s reading and interpretation followed by a shorter summary of Vijnanabhiksu’s reading and interpretation (stressing only those views of vijnanabhiksu that clearly differ from Aniruddha).

In three instances in the volume we have presented unusually detailed summaries, namely, those for the Samkhyavrtti, the samkhyasaptativrtti, and the Yuktidipika. The former two texts are those recently edited by Esther A. Solomon, and because they have been unknown in Samkhya studies until now, we invited Professor Solomon to prepare full treatments of both. The latter text, the Yuktidipika, is undoubtedly the most important text for understanding the details of the Samkhya system, but until now no translation has been available. We thought it appropriate, therefore, to include as full a treatment of it as possible. The summary of the Yuktidipika in this volume is not by any means exhaustive, but it does provide a wealth of information that has until now been unavailable.

Dr. Ram Shankar Bhattacharya and I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of those who helped to bring this volume to completion. First, of course, our thanks to the many contributors (see list of contributors) who prepared the published summaries. Second, a special word of thanks and acknowledgement to those who prepared summaries of passages that could not be included in the final published version of the volume- passages, for example, from Jaina, Buddhist, or epic literature that, based on our final editorial decisions, finally fell outside of the boundaries of the volume, or summaries in which it became apparent that a particular text was simply repeating what had been said earlier in terms of philosophical interpretation. In this regard, we would like to thank and acknowledge the help of Dr. Biswanath Bhattacharya (Calcutta Sanskrit college), Dr. Sabhajit misra (university of Gorakhpur), Dr.R.K.Tripathi (Banaras Hindu university), and Dr. S.P. Verm a (kuruksetra university).

Several research assistants have helped us in our work along the way, and we would like to thank and acknowledge them as well: Dr. Jayandra soni, formerly of Banaras Hindu University and currently at Mcmaster University in Ontario, Canada; Dr. James McNamara, former doctoral students in religious studies at the University of California, santa Barbara. Also, a special word of thanks for the research assistance of Dr. Edeltraud Harzer, of the Unirersity of Washington, seattle. Our thanks, furthermore, to the American Institute of Indian studies and the Indo-U.S. Subcommission for Education and culture for financial assistance to our various contributors and to the coeditors, and, finally, our thanks and appreciation to Karl H. potter for his continuing patience, encouragement, and help in his capacity as general editor of the Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies.

For the nonspecialist reader of the volume, it should be noted that the Index provides brief definitions of many technical Samkhya terms before listing page numbers and may be used, therefore, as a glossary for those unfamiliar with the Sanskrit terminology of the Samkhya system. An additional glossary for classical Samkhya terminology may also be found in Gerald J.Larson, Classical samkhya (2nd edition, Delhi: motilal Banarsidass, 1979), pp. 237-247.

Full diacritical marks are given only for all primary entries of texts and authors in the volume. In the case of modern Indian scholars, namely, authors of secondary work, summarizers, and other contributors, names are cited without diacritical marks, in accordance with current convention in modern India, Likewise, the names of modern Indian cities are given without diacritical marks.

 

Contents

 

Preface   xi
Part one :    
  Introduction to the philosophy of Samkhya (Gerald James Larson)  
  The History and Literature of Samkhya 3
I. Proto-Samkhya and Pre-Karika-Samkhya 3
II. The Samkhya Textual Tradition 14
  Karika-Samkhya and Patanjala-Samkhya 18
  Karika-kaumudi-Samkhya 29
  Samasa-Samkhya 32
  Sutra-Samkhya 35
  The philosophy of Samkhya 43
  Preliminary Remarks 43
I. Samkhya as Enumeration 48
II. Samkhya as process materialism 65
III. Samkhya as contentless consciousness 73
IV. Samkhya as rational reflection 83
Part Two :    
  Summaries of works  
1. Kapila 107
2. Asuri 107
3. Pancasikha 113
4. Sastitantra 125
5. Paurika 129
6. Pancadhikarana 129
7. Patanjali (the Samkhya teacher) 129
8. Varsaganya 131
9. Vindhyavasin 141
10. Madhava 147
11. Isvarakrsna 149
  Samkhyakarika (karl H.potter; Gerald J. Larson) 149
12. Patanjali (the Yoga teacher) 165
13. Suvarnasaptati (G.J.Larson) 167
14. Samkhyavrtti (Esther A. Solomon) 179
15 Samkhasaptativrtti E.A. Solomon) 193
16. Gaudapada 209
  Samkhyakarikabhasya (G.J.Larson) 210
17. Vyasa, or Vedavyasa 225
18. Yuktidipika (Raghunatha Sharma, Dayanand Bhargava, and shiv kumar sharma) 227
19. Jayamangald (Ram Shankar Bhattacharya) 271
20. Samkara 289
21. Matharavrtti (Harsh Narain) 291
22. Vacaspati Misra 301
  Tattvakaumudi (G.J. Larson) 301
  Tattvavaisaradi 312
23. Bhojaraja 313
24. Tattvasamasasutra 315
25. Kramadipika (Anima Sen Gupta) 321
26. Samkhyasutra 327
27. Aniruddha 333
  Samkhayasutravrtti (G.J. Larson) 333
28. Vijnanabhiksu 375
  Samkhyapravacanabhasya (Sangamlal Pandey) 376
  Samkhyasara (R.S. Bhattacharya) 401
  Yogavarttika, Yogasarasamgraha 412
29. Bhavaganesa 413
  Tattvayatharthyadipana (Kapil Deo Pandey) 413
30. Mahadeva Vedantin 417
31. Svayamprakasayati 419
  Gunatrayaviveka (R.S. Bhattachary) 419
32. Narayanatirtha 421
  Samkhyacandrika (A. Sen Gupta) 421
33. Nagoji Bhatta 429
34. Vamsidhara Misra 431
  Tattvavibhakara (Kedaranatha Tripathi and R.S. Bhattacharya) 431
35. Simananda 443
  Samkhyatattvavivecana (A. sen Gupta) 443
36. Sarvopakarinitika (K.D. Pandey) 445
37. Samkhyasutravivarana (A. Sen Gupta) 447
38. Kaviraja Yati 449
39. Mudumba Narasimhasvamin 451
  Samkhyataruvasanta (R.S. Bhattacharya) 451
40. Raghunatha Tarkavagisa 459
41. Devatirtha Svamin 461
42. Taranatha tarkavacaspati 463
  Upodghata (R.S. Bhattacharya) 463
43. Narendranatha Tattvanidhi 465
44. Bharati Yati 467
  Tattvakaumudivyakhya (E.A. Solomon) 467
45. Pramathanatha Tarkabhusana 473
  Amala (Kalidas Bhattacharya) 473
46. Krsnanatha Nyayapancanana 487
  Avaranavarini (K.D. Bhattacharya) 488
47. Hariprasada 501
  Samkhyasutravrtti (R.S. Bhattacharya) 501
48. Balarama Udasina 509
  Vidvattosini (R.S. Bhattachayra) 509
49. Pancanana Tarkaratna 521
  purnima (K.D. Bhattacharya) 521
50. Kunjavihari Tarkasiddhanta 545
  Tattvabodhini (Prabal kumar Sen) 445
51 Krsnavallabhacarya 451
  Kiranavali (R.S. Bhattacharya) 451
  Samkhyakarikabhasya (A. Sen Gupta) 554
52. Rajesvara sastrin Dravida 559
  Tattvakaumuditika (R.S. Bhattacharya) 559
53. Ramesacandra Tarkatirtha 563
  Gunamayi (K.D. Bhattacharya) 563
54. Kalipada Tarkacarya 577
  Saraprabha (R.S. Bhattacharya) 577
55. Hariharananda Aranya 581
  Samkhyatattvaloka (R.S. Bhattacharya) 581
56. Harirama Sukla 591
  Susama (R.S Bhattacharya) 591
57. Sivanarayana Sastrin 599
  Sarabodhini (A. Sen Gupta) 599
58. Naraharinatha 611
59 Sitarama Sastri 613
60. Brahmamuni 615
61. Kesava 617
62. Krsna Misra 617
63. Samkhayaparibhasa 617
64. M.V. Upadhyaya 619
65. Sri Rama Pandeya 621
Notes   623
Index   661

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