Sankhya.—The Scinkhya system seems to derive its name from its systematic enumeration (sankhyd) of the twenty-five prin ciples (tattva) it recognizes—consisting of twenty-four material and an independent immaterial principle. In opposition to the Vedanta school, which maintains the eternal coexistence of a spiritual principle of reality and an unspiritual principle of un reality, the Sankhya assumes the eternal coexistence of a ma terial first cause, which it calls either mfila-Prakriti (fem.), "prime Originant" (matter), or Pradhana, "the principal" cause, and a plurality of individual souls, Purusha, which continually interact on one another. The system recognizes no intelligent creator (such as the Ihara, or demiurgus, of the Vedanta)— whence it is called niriivara, godless; but it conceives the Ma terial First Cause, itself unintelligent, to have become developed, by a gradual process of evolution, into all the actual forms of the phenomenal universe, excepting the souls. Its first emanation is buddhi, intelligence; whence springs ahamkara, consciousness; thence the subtle elements of material forms, namely, five ele mentary particles (tanmatra) and eleven organs of sense; and finally, from the elementary particles, five elements. The souls have from all eternity been connected with matter,—having in the first place become invested with a subtle frame (linga-, or siikshma-, Sarira), consisting of seventeen principles, namely, intelligence, consciousness, elementary particles, and organs of sense and action, including mind. To account for the spontane ous development of matter, the system assumes the latter to consist of three constituents (guna) which are possessed of dif ferent qualities, viz. sattva, of pleasing qualities, such as "good ness," lightness, luminosity; rajas, of pain-giving qualities, such as "force," passion, activity; and lamas, of deadening qualities, such as "darkness," rigidity, dullness, and which, if not in a state of equipoise, cause unrest and development. Through all this course of development, the soul itself remains perfectly detached, its sole properties being those of purity and intelligence, and the functions usually regarded as "psychic" being due to the me chanical processes of the internal organs themselves evolved out of inanimate matter. Invested with its subtle frame, which accompanies it through the cycle of transmigration, the soul, for the sake of fruition, connects itself ever anew with matter, thus, as it were, creating for itself ever new forms of material exist ence; and it is only on attaining perfect knowledge, which reveals the absolute distinction between soul and matter, that the Purusha is liberated from the miseries of Sarnsara, and continues to exist in a state of absolute consciousness and detachment from matter. The existence of God, on the other hand, is denied by this theory, or rather considered as incapable of proof ; the existence of evil and misery, for one thing, being thought incom patible with the notion of a divine creator and ruler of the world. The reputed originator of this school is the sage Kapila, to whom tradition ascribes the composition of the fundamental text-book, the Scinkhya-sfara, or Sankhya-pravachana, as well as the Tattva-samcisa, a mere catalogue of the principles but these are comparatively modern. Probably the oldest existing work is Igvarakrishna's excellent Sankhya-karika, which gives, in the narrow compass of sixty-nine glokas, a lucid and complete sketch of the system.
Yoga.—The Yoga system is a branch of the preceding school, holding the same opinions on most points treated in common in their Sutras, with the exception of one important point, the existence of God. To the twenty-five principles (tattva) of the Nirigvara S5,nkhya, the last of which was the Purusha, the Yoga adds, as the twenty-sixth, the Nirguna Purusha, or Self devoid of qualities, the Supreme God of the system. Hence the Yoga is -called the Seivara (theistical) Scinkhya. But over and above the purely speculative part of its doctrine, which it has adopted from the sister school, the theistic Sankhya has developed a complete system of mortification of the senses—by means of prolonged apathy and abstraction, protracted rigidity of posture, and similar practices—many of which are already alluded to in the Upani shads—with the view of attaining complete concentration (yoga) on, and an ecstatic vision of, the Deity, and. the acquisi
tion of miraculous powers. It is from this portion of the system that the school derives the name by which it is more generally known.
Nyaya and Vaiteshika.—The Nyaya and Vaiieshika (the latter the older) are separate branches of one and the same school, which supplement each other and the doctrines of which have virtually become amalgamated into a single system of philosophy. The term Nyaya (ni-aya, "in-going," entering), though properly meaning "analytical investigation," as applied to philosophical inquiry generally, has come to be taken more commonly in the narrower sense of "logic," because this school has entered more thoroughly than any other into the laws and processes of thought, and has worked out a formal system of reasoning which forms the Hindu standard of logic.
The followers of these schools generally recognize six cate gories (paclartha): substance (dravya), quality (guna), action (karma), generality (samcCnya), particularity (viiesha), intimate relation (samavaya) to which was added a seventh, non-existence (abhava). Substances forming the substrata of qualities and actions are of two kinds: eternal (without a cause), namely, space, time, ether, soul and the atoms of mind, earth, water, fire and air; and non-eternal, comprising all compounds, or the things we perceive, and which must have a cause of their existence.
Causality is of three kinds : that of intimate relation (material cause) ; that of non-intimate relation (between parts of a com pound) ; and instrumental causality (effecting the union of com ponent parts). Material things are thus composed of atoms (anu), i.e., ultimate simple substances, or units of space, eternal, unchangeable and without dimension, characterized only by "particularity (vis'esha)." It is from this predication of ultimate "particulars" that the Vaigeshikas, the originators of the atom istic doctrine, derive their name. The Nyaya draws a clear line between matter and spirit, and has worked out a careful and ingenious system of psychology. It distinguishes between indi vidual or living souls (jivatman), which are numerous, infinite and eternal, and the Supreme Soul (Paramcitman), which is one only, the seat of eternal knowledge, and the maker and ruler (Livara) of all things. It is by his will and agency that the unconscious living souls (soul-atoms, in fact) enter into union with the (material) atoms of mind, etc., and thus partake of the pleasures and sufferings of mundane existence.
The original collection of Nyaya-siitras is ascribed to Gautama, and that of the Vaiieshika-sutras to Kanada. The etymological meaning of the latter name seems to be "atom eater." whence in works of hostile critics the synonymous terms Kana-bhuj or Kana-bhaksha are sometimes derisively applied to him, doubtless in allusion to his theory of atoms.
Heretical Systems.—As regards the different heretical systems of Hindu philosophy, there is no occasion, in a sketch of San skrit literature, to enter into the tenets of the two great anti Brahmanical sects, the Jainas and Buddhists. Among the minor systems may be mentioned the following: The Chcirviikas are an ancient sect of undisguised material ists, who deny the existence of the soul, and consider the human person (purusha) to be an organic body endowed with sensibility and with thought, resulting from a modification of the component material elements, but their authoritative text-book, the Barhas patya-sfitra, is only known so far from a few quotations in polemics against the school. The sect was anti-Brahmanical and such moral teaching as it taught was pure hedonism.