ajAti vAda

The orthodox schools are traditionally counted as six in number (shaD darSana), usually
grouped in pairs, to form three pairs. These are:
• nyAya and vaiSeshika
• yoga and sAm.khya
• pUrva and uttara mImAm.sA (The word mImAm.sA usually refers to pUrva
mImAm.sA, while uttara mImAm.sA is more popularly called vedAnta.)
nyAya-vaiSeshika: nyAya is the school of Indian logic. It is based on the nyAya sUtras
of gautama, and a long tradition of commentaries. It is very realistic in outlook, and has
historically amalgamated itself with the vaiSeshika, which is the old Indian school of
atomism. The vaiSeshika sUtras of kaNAda (or kaNabhuk, the `atom-eater') and its line
of commentaries form the basis of this school. Here, the entire universe is considered to
be ultimately composed of `atoms' (aNu)of the old five elements (earth, water, fire, light
and space). Laws of combination of atoms to form `molecules' (dvyANuka, tryANuka
etc.) were also formulated. Authors of nyAya and vaiSeshika works freely drew upon
each other's principles, to form the combined school.
According to nyAya-vaiSeshika thought, the individual soul is supposed to be a
substance, atomic in size and other qualities. Another one of the important features of
nyAya thought is that it offers a number of cosmological, teleological and anthropic
arguments for the existence of a Creator God. The vedas are generally regarded to be
compositions of this Creator. The standard solution to the question of human liberation
is to follow the teachings of the vedas, and perform the requisite sacrifices, in order to
attain a heaven. A number of these arguments are extremely similar to those offered by
theologians from the Judaic, Christian and Islamic religions. The nyAya-vaiSeshika
school has not seen any new developments for a long time now. They have been mostly
replaced by the navya-nyAya (neo-nyAya) school, which specializes in a rigorous logical
formalism, comparable with modern mathematical formal logic.
sAm.khya-yoga: The first teacher of the sAm.khya school is said to be kapila, one of
the famous Rshis or siddhas in Indian mythology. The oldest texts of the sAm.khya
school are the sAm.khya kArikas of ISvarakRshNa. This text and its commentaries
enumerate 24 fundamental principles, which constitute the universe. 22 of these are
evolutes of one more basic principle, called prakRti. The other principle is purusha, the
individual soul, whose liberation consists of isolation from prakRti. Thus, the basic
scheme is one of duality, based on two fundamental principles, prakRti and purusha,
although this school also allows for an infinite number of purushas. There is no real
place for a Creator God in this scheme, nor is there any great emphasis on the vedas.
However, none of the sAm.khya authors explicitly deny the validity of the vedas, which
allows their inclusion among the Astika thinkers. There is another set of texts, deriving
from the so-called sAm.khya sUtras, attributed to kapila. There is a commentary in this
line, by vijnAnabhikshu, a 17th century author, but after him, there has not been much
development of sAm.khya thought.