Samkhya is an atheistic, dualist school of Hindu philosophy that analyzes reality into two eternal, independent principles: purusha, unchanging conscious persons, and prakriti, the single productive material principle comprising three gunas (qualities), sattva, rajas and tamas. Liberation is achieved by recognizing the fundamental difference between the two. Its classical formulation appears in Ishvarakrishna's Samkhya-Karika, though the philosophy's roots reach back through the Upanishads and the Mahabharata.
Facts
Start YearDates Ishvarakrishna's Samkhya-Karika, the classical codifying text; the school's conceptual roots are older, traced by the source to the Upanishads and the Mahabharata, but without a citable founding date of their own. Founded Date Connections
Founded By
Source Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
In Branch
Source Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Sources
1. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
entry: Sankhya, Historical Dating
Sankhya's classical formulation appears in Isvarakrsna's Sankhya-Karika (circa 350 C.E.).
entry: Sankhya, Introduction
Sankhya (often spelled Samkhya) is one of the major orthodox (or Hindu) Indian philosophies.
Founded By: Kapila, Sankhya entry, Section 1 History
According to the Indian tradition, the first masters of Sankhya are Kapila and his disciple Asuri.
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