A HISTORY OF INDIAN PHILOSOPHY
BY
SURENDRANATH DASGUPTA, M.A., Ph.D.,
PROFESSOR OF SANSKRIT, GOVERNMENT COLLEGE, CHITTAGONG, BENGAL,
LECTURER IN BENGALI IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE
VOLUME I
CAMBRIDGE
AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS-1922
May He, who links the minds of all people,through the apertures of time, with new threads of knowledge like a garland of flowers, be pleased to accept this my thread of Eastern thought, offered, though it be small, with the greatest devotion.
Dedication
TO
HIS EXCELLENCY
LAWRENCE JOHN LUMLEY DUNDAS, G.C.I.E.,
EARL OF RONALDSHAY, CHANCELLOR OF THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALCUTTA AND THE GOVERNOR OF BENGAL.
May it please your Excellency,
The idea of writing this work was first suggested to me by the Rectorial address which your Excellency delivered some years ago at a Convocation of the University of Calcutta, in which you emphasised the special need of the study of Indian philosophy by Indian students. I shall ever remember with gratitude the encouragement that I received from the kind interest that you showed in my work by going through the manuscript, in the conversations that I had the honour of holding with you on various occasions, and in your subsequent letters to me. Your Excellency’s honoured name has thus already become peculiarly connected with the composition of this work. With your Excellency’s kind permission, I therefore wish to take advantage of this opportunity in associating your Excellency’s name with this volume as a mark of deepest respect and esteem.
The present work is an attempt to present the thought of Ancient India at its best. This thought still holds the spirit of India, and the more it is studied the more do we see that the problems are often identical with those of European thinkers. That both East and West should realise each other’s tasks and find that they are often identical is an auspicious omen for the future. The great work of uniting India with Europe can only be gradually accomplished through mutual appreciation of what is best in each country. I shall be very happy if this humble volume may even in a very small measure aid this process which is already begun in various ways and may represent to your Excellency after your return to this country something of the ancient ideals of India.
I remain, your Excellency,
Loyally and sincerely yours,
SURENDRANATH DASGUPTA.
Preface
THE old civilisation of India was a concrete unity of many-sided developments in art, architecture, literature, religion, morals, and science so far as it was understood in those days. But the most important achievement of Indian thought was philosophy. It was regarded as the goal of all the highest practical and theoretical activities, and it indicated the point of unity amidst all the apparent diversities which the complex growth of culture over a vast area inhabited by different peoples produced. It is not in the history of foreign invasions, in the rise of independent kingdoms at different times, in the empires of this or that great monarch that the unity of India is to be sought. It is essentially one of spiritual aspirations and obedience to the law of the spirit, which were regarded as superior to everything else, and it has outlived all the political changes through which India passed.
The Greeks, the Huns, the Scythians, the Pathans and the Moguls who occupied the land and controlled the political machinery never ruled the minds of the people, for these political events were like hurricanes or the changes of season, mere phenomena of a natural or physical order which never affected the spiritual integrity of Hindu culture. If after a passivity of some centuries India is again going to become creative it is mainly on account of this fundamental unity of her progress and civilisation and not for anything that she may borrow from other countries. It is therefore indispensably necessary for all those who wish to appreciate the significance and potentialities of Indian culture that they should properly understand the history of Indian philosophical thought which is the nucleus round which all that is best and highest in India has grown. Much harm has already been done by the circulation of opinions that the culture and philosophy of India was dreamy and abstract. It is therefore very necessary that Indians as well as other peoples should become more and more acquainted with the true characteristics of the past history of Indian thought and form a correct estimate of its special features.
But it is not only for the sake of the right understanding of India that Indian philosophy should be read, or only as a record of the past thoughts of India. For most of the problems that are still debated in modern philosophical thought occurred in more or less divergent forms to the philosophers of India. Their discussions, difficulties and solutions when properly grasped in connection with the problems of our own times may throw light on the course of the process of the future reconstruction of modern thought. The discovery of the important features of Indian philosophical thought, and a due appreciation of their full significance, may turn out to be as important to modern philosophy as the discovery of Sanskrit has been to the investigation of modern philological researches. It is unfortunate that the task of re-interpretation and re-valuation of Indian thought has not yet been undertaken on a comprehensive scale. Sanskritists also with very few exceptions have neglected this important field of study, for most of these scholars have been interested more in mythology, philology, and history than in philosophy. Much work however has already been done in the way of the publication of a large number of important texts, and translations of some of them have also been attempted. But owing to the presence of many technical terms in advanced Sanskrit philosophical literature, the translations in most cases are hardly intelligible to those who are not familiar with the texts themselves.
A work containing some general account of the mutual relations of the chief systems is necessary for those who intend to pursue the study of a particular school. This is also necessary for lay readers interested in philosophy and students of Western philosophy who have no inclination or time to specialise in any Indian system, but who are at the same time interested to know what they can about Indian philosophy. In my two books The Study of Patanjali and Yoga Philosophy in relation to other Indian Systems of Thought I have attempted to interpret the Sāmkhya and Yoga systems both from their inner point of view and from the point of view of their relation to other Indian systems. The present attempt deals with the important features of these as also of all the other systems and seeks to show some of their inner philosophical relations especially in regard to the history of their development. I have tried to be as faithful to the original texts as I could and have always given the Sanskrit or Pāli technical terms for the help of those who want to make this book a guide for further study. To understand something of these terms is indeed essential for anyone who wishes to be sure that he is following the actual course of the thoughts.
In Sanskrit treatises the style of argument and methods of treating the different topics are altogether different from what we find in any modern work of philosophy. Materials had therefore to be collected from a large number of works on each system and these have been knit together and given a shape which is likely to be more intelligible to people unacquainted with Sanskritic ways of thought. But at the same time I considered it quite undesirable to put any pressure on Indian thoughts in order to make them appear as European. This will explain much of what might appear quaint to a European reader. But while keeping all the thoughts and expressions of the Indian thinkers I have tried to arrange them in a systematic whole in a manner which appeared to me strictly faithful to their clear indications and suggestions. It is only in very few places that I have translated some of the Indian terms by terms of English philosophy, and this I did because it appeared to me that those were approximately the nearest approach to the Indian sense of the term. In all other places I have tried to choose words which have not been made dangerous by the acquirement of technical senses. This however is difficult, for the words which are used in philosophy always acquire some sort of technical sense. I would therefore request my readers to take those words in an unsophisticated sense and associate them with such meanings as are justified by the passages and contexts in which they are used. Some of what will appear as obscure in any system may I hope be removed if it is re-read with care and attention, for unfamiliarity sometimes stands in the way of right comprehension. But I may have also missed giving the proper suggestive links in many places where condensation was inevitable and the systems themselves have also sometimes insoluble difficulties, for no system of philosophy is without its dark and uncomfortable corners.
Though I have begun my work from the Vedic and Brāhmanic stage, my treatment of this period has been very slight. The beginnings of the evolution of philosophical thought, though they can be traced in the later Vedic hymns, are neither connected nor systematic.
More is found in the Brāhmaṇas, but I do not think it worth while to elaborate the broken shreds of thought of this epoch. I could have dealt with the Upaniṣad period more fully, but many works on the subject have already been published in Europe and those who wish to go into details will certainly go to them. I have therefore limited myself to the dominant current flowing through the earlier Upaniṣads. Notices of other currents of thought will be given in connection with the treatment of other systems in the second volume with which they are more intimately connected. It will be noticed that my treatment of early Buddhism is in some places of an inconclusive character. This is largely due to the inconclusive character of the texts which were put into writing long after Buddha in the form of dialogues and where the precision and directness required in philosophy were not contemplated. This has given rise to a number of theories about the interpretations of the philosophical problems of early Buddhism among modern Buddhist scholars and it is not always easy to decide one way or the other without running the risk of being dogmatic; and the scope of my work was also too limited to allow me to indulge in very elaborate discussions of textual difficulties. But still I also have in many places formed theories of my own, whether they are right or wrong it will be for scholars to judge. I had no space for entering into any polemic, but it will be found that my interpretations of the systems are different in some cases from those offered by some European scholars who have worked on them and I leave it to those who are acquainted with the literature of the subject to decide which of us may be in the right. I have not dealt elaborately with the new school of Logic (Navya-Nyāya) of Bengal, for the simple reason that most of the contributions of this school consist in the invention of technical expressions and the emphasis put on the necessity of strict exactitude and absolute preciseness of logical definitions and discussions and these are almost untranslatable in intelligible English. I have however incorporated what important differences of philosophical points of view I could find in it. Discussions of a purely technical character could not be very fruitful in a work like this. The bibliography given of the different Indian systems in the last six chapters is not exhaustive but consists mostly of books which have been actually studied or consulted in the writing of those chapters. Exact references to the pages of the texts have generally been given in footnotes in those cases where a difference of interpretation was anticipated or where it was felt that a reference to the text would make the matter clearer, or where the opinions of modern writers have been incorporated.
It gives me the greatest pleasure to acknowledge my deepest gratefulness to the Hon’ble Maharaja Sir Manindrachandra Nundy, K.C.I.E. Kashimbazar, Bengal, who has kindly promised to bear the entire expense of the publication of both volumes of the present work.
The name of this noble man is almost a household word in Bengal for the magnanimous gifts that he has made to educational and other causes. Up till now he has made a total gift of about £300,000, of which those devoted to education come to about £200,000. But the man himself is far above the gifts he has made. His sterling character, universal sympathy and friendship, his kindness and amiability make him a veritable Bodhisattva— one of the noblest of men that I have ever seen. Like many other scholars of Bengal, I am deeply indebted to him for the encouragement that he has given me in the pursuit of my studies and researches, and my feelings of attachment and gratefulness for him are too deep for utterance.
I am much indebted to my esteemed friends Dr E. J. Thomas of the Cambridge University Library and Mr Douglas Ainslie for their kindly revising the proofs of this work, in the course of which they improved my English in many places. To the former I am also indebted for his attention to the transliteration of a large number of Sanskrit words, and also for the whole-hearted sympathy and great friendliness with which he assisted me with his advice on many points of detail, in particular the exposition of the Buddhist doctrine of the cause of rebirth owes something of its treatment to repeated discussions with him.
I also wish to express my gratefulness to my friend Mr N. K. Siddhanta, M.A., late of the Scottish Churches College, and Mademoiselle Paule Povie for the kind assistance they have rendered in preparing the index. My obligations are also due to the Syndics of the Cambridge University Press for the honour they have done me in publishing this work.
To the Hon’ble Sir Asutosh Mookerjee, Kt., C.S.I., M.A., D.L.,
D.Sc., Ph.D., the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Calcutta,
I owe a debt which is far greater than I can express here, especially for the generous enthusiasm with which he had kindly agreed to accept this work for publication by the Calcutta University, which would have materialised if other circumstances had not changed this arrangement.
To scholars of Indian philosophy who may do me the honour of reading my book and who may be impressed with its inevitable shortcomings and defects, I can only pray in the words of Hemacandra:
Pramāṇasiddhāntaviruddham atra
Yatkiñciduktam matimāndyadoṣāt
Mātsaryyam utsāryya tadāryyacittāh
Prasādam ādhāya viśodhayantu[1].
S. D.
Trinity College,
Cambridge.
February , 1922.
Footnotes and references:
[1]:May the noble-minded scholars instead of cheṛṣing ill feeling kindly correct whatever errors have been here committed through the dullness of my intellect in the way of wrong interpretations and misstatements.
Chapter I – Introductory
Chapter II – The Vedas, Brāhmaṇas And Their Philosophy
. Part 1 – The Vedas and their antiquity
. Part 2 – The place of the Vedas in the Hindu mind
. Part 3 – Classification of the Vedic literature
. Part 4 – The Saṃhitās
. Part 5 – The Brāhmaṇas
. Part 6 – The Āraṇyakas
. Part 7 – The Ṛg-Veda, its civilization
. Part 8 – The Vedic Gods
. Part 9 – Brahma
. Part 10 – Sacrifice; the First Rudiments of the Law of Karma
. Part 11 – Cosmogony—Mythological and philosophical
. Part 12 – Eschatology—the Doctrine of Atman
. Part 13 – Conclusion
Chapter III – The Earlier Upaniṣads (700 B.c.— 600 B.c.)
. Part 1 – The place of the Upaniṣads in Vedic literature
. Part 2 – The names of the Upaniṣads; Non-Brahmanic influence
. Part 3 – Brāhmaṇas and the Early Upaniṣads
. Part 4 – Revival of Upaniṣad studies in modern times
. Part 5 – The Upaniṣads and their interpretations
. Part 6 – The quest after Brahman: the struggle and the failures
. Part 7 – Unknowability of Brahman and the Negative Method
. Part 8 – The Ātman doctrine
. Part 9 – Place of Brahman in the Upaniṣads
. Part 10 – The World
. Part 11 – The World-Soul
. Part 12 – The Theory of Causation
. Part 13 – Doctrine of Transmigration
. Part 14 – Emancipation
Chapter IV – General Observations On The Systems Of Indian Philosophy
. Part 1 – In what Sense is a History of Indian Philosophy possible?
. Part 2 – Growth of the Philosophic Literature
. Part 3 – The Indian Systems of Philosophy
. Part 4 – Some fundamental Points of Agreement
. Part 5 – The Pessimistic Attitude towards the World
. Part 6 – Unity in Indian Sādhana
Chapter V – Buddhist Philosophy
. Part 1 – The State of Philosophy in India before the Buddha
. Part 2 – Buddha: his Life
. Part 3 – Early Buddhist Literature
. Part 4 – The Doctrine of Causal Connection of early Buddhism
. Part 5 – The Khandhas
. Part 6 – Avijjā and Āsava
. Part 7 – Sīla and Samādhi
. Part 8 – Kamma
. Part 9 – Upaniṣads and Buddhism
. Part 10 – The Schools of Theravada Buddhism
. Part 11 – Mahāyānism
. Part 12 – The Mādhyamika or the Śūnyavāda school.—Nihilism
. Part 13 – Uncompromising Idealism or the School of Vijñānavāda Buddhism
. Part 14 – Sautrāntika Theory of Perception
. Part 15 – Sautrāntika theory of Inference
. Part 16 – The Doctrine of Momentariness
. Part 17 – The Doctrine of Momentariness and the Doctrine of Causal Efficiency (Arthakriyākāritva)
. Part 18 – Some Ontological Problems on which the Different Indian Systems Diverged
. Part 19 – Brief survey of the evolution of Buddhist Thought
Chapter VI – The Jaina Philosophy
. Part 1 – The Origin of Jainism
. Part 2 – Two Sects of Jainism
. Part 3 – The Canonical and other Literature of the Jains
. Part 4 – Some General Characteristics of the Jains
. Part 5 – Life of Mahāvīra
. Part 6 – The Fundamental Ideas of Jaina Ontology
. Part 7 – The Doctrine of Relative Pluralism (anekāntavāda)
. Part 8 – The Doctrine of Nayas
. Part 9 – The Doctrine of Syādvāda
. Part 10 – Knowledge, its value for us
. Part 11 – Theory of Perception
. Part 12 – Non-Perceptual Knowledge
. Part 13 – Knowledge as Revelation
. Part 14 – The Jīvas
. Part 15 – Karma Theory
. Part 16 – Karma, Āsrava and Nirjarā
. Part 17 – Pudgala
. Part 18 – Dharma, Adharma, Akāśa
. Part 19 – Kāla and Samaya
. Part 20 – Jaina Cosmography
. Part 21 – Jaina Yoga
. Part 22 – Jaina Atheism
. Part 23 – Mokṣa (emancipation)
Chapter VII – The Kapila and the Pātañjala Sāṃkhya (yoga)
. Part 1 – A Review (of Kapila and Sāṃkhya)
. Part 2 – The Germs of Sāṃkhya in the Upaniṣads
. Part 3 – Sāṃkhya and Yoga Literature
. Part 4 – An Early School of Sāṃkhya
. Part 5 – Sāṃkhya kārikā, Sāṃkhya sūtra, Vācaspati Miśra and Vijñāna Bhiksu
. Part 6 – Yoga and Patañjali
. Part 7 – The Sāṃkhya and the Yoga Doctrine of Soul or Puruṣa
. Part 8 – Thought and Matter
. Part 9 – Feelings, the Ultimate Substances
. Part 10 – The Guṇas
. Part 11 – Prakṛti and its Evolution
. Part 12 – Pralaya and the disturbance of the Prakṛti Equilibrium
. Part 13 – Mahat and Ahaṃkāra
. Part 14 – The Tanmātras and the Paramāṇus
. Part 15 – Principle of Causation and Conservation of Energy
. Part 16 – Change as the formation of new collocations
. Part 17 – Causation as Satkāryavāda
. Part 18 – Sāṃkhya Atheism and Yoga Theism
. Part 19 – Buddhi and Puruṣa
. Part 20 – The Cognitive Process and some characteristics of Citta
. Part 21 – Sorrow and its Dissolution
. Part 22 – Citta
. Part 23 – Yoga Purificatory Practices (Parikarma)
. Part 24 – The Yoga Meditation
Chapter VIII – The Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika Philosophy
. Part 1 – Criticism of Buddhism and Sāṃkhya from the Nyāya standpoint
. Part 2 – Nyāya and Vaiśeṣika sūtras
. Part 3 – Does Vaiśeṣika represent an Old School of Mīmāṃsā?
. Part 4 – Philosophy in the Vaiśeṣika sūtras
. Part 5 – Philosophy in the Nyāya sūtras
. Part 6 – Caraka, Nyāya sūtras and Vaiśeṣika sūtras
. Part 7 – The Vaiśeṣika and Nyāya Literature
. Part 8 – The main doctrine of the Nyaya-Vaiśeṣika Philosophy
. Part 9 – The six Padārthas: Dravya, Guṇa, Karma, Sāmānya, Viśeṣa, Samavāya
. Part 10 – The Theory of Causation
. Part 11 – Dissolution (Pralaya) and Creation (Srṣṭi)
. Part 12 – Proof of the Existence of Īśvara
. Part 13 – The Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika Physics
. Part 14 – The Origin of Knowledge (Pramāṇa)
. Part 15 – The four Pramāṇas of Nyāya
. Part 16 – Perception (Pratyakṣa)
. Part 17 – Inference (anumāna)
. Part 18 – Upamāna and Sabda
. Part 19 – Negation in Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika
. Part 20 – Acquirement of debating devices
. Part 21 – The doctrine of Soul
. Part 22 – Īśvara and Salvation
Chapter IX – Mīmāṃsā Philosophy
. Part 1 – A Comparative Review
. Part 2 – The Mīmāṃsā Literature
. Part 3 – The Parataḥ-prāmāṇya and Svataḥ-prāmāṇya doctrine
. Part 4 – The place of sense organs in perception
. Part 5 – Indeterminate and determinate perception
. Part 6 – Some Ontological Problems connected with the Doctrine of Perception
. Part 7 – The nature of knowledge
. Part 8 – The Psychology of Illusion
. Part 9 – Inference
. Part 10 – Upamana, Arthapatti
. Part 11 – Śabda-pramāṇa
. Part 12 – The Pramāṇa of Non-perception (anupalabdhi)
. Part 13 – Self, Salvation, God
. Part 14 – Mīmāṃsā as philosophy and Mīmāṃsā as ritualism
Chapter X – The Śaṅkara School Of Vedānta
. Part 1 – Comprehension of the philosophical Issues more essential than the Dialectic of controversy
. Part 2 – The philosophical situation (a review)
. Part 3 – Vedānta Literature
. Part 4 – Vedānta in Gauḍapāda
. Part 5 – Vedānta and Śaṅkara (788-820 A.D.)
. Part 6 – The main idea of the Vedānta philosophy
. Part 7 – In what sense is the world-appearance false?
. Part 8 – The nature of the world-appearance, phenomena
. Part 9 – The Definition of Ajñāna (nescience)
. Part 10 – Ajñāna established by Perception and Inference
. Part 11 – Locus and Object of Ajñāna, Ahaṃkāra, and Antaḥkaraṇa
. Part 12 – Anirvācyavāda and the Vedānta Dialectic
. Part 13 – The Theory of Causation
. Part 14 – Vedānta theory of Perception and Inference
. Part 15 – Ātman, Jīva, Īśvara, Ekajīvavāda and Dṛṣṭisṛṣṭivāda
. Part 16 – Vedānta Theory of Illusion
. Part 17 – Vedānta Ethics and Vedānta Emancipation
. Part 18 – Vedānta and other Indian Systems
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