Classical Samkhya: An Interpretation of its History and Meaning

304 Pages·1998·15.697 MB·English

by  Gerald James Larson

First Edititm: De.lki,1969
&rond Revised Edition: Delhi, 1979
Reprinl: 1998
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CONTENTS
pREFaCE TO mE SEooyn RQrrrmr
PeEFACE ".
ABBREYIATIOSS
CHAPTER
h7RODl'C]lO,¥ I
I A CSITlr.u
Bri.rEx itior of the Princi I ofCIa. .i cal Siqlkh 7
Critical Review of Int reta 'O IlS 15
Rjchard Garbe IS
Joseph Dahlmann 22
palll Oltramare 23
Hcnnann Oldenberg 2G
A. B Kejth 29
Franklin Edgerton ... 33
Surcndranath Dasgupta 36
E. H. Iohnston 41
Erich FrallwaUncr 48
J. A. B. \-an Buitenen 52
J. \V. Hauer 57
Mitre;] Eljadc 60
63
K. C. Bll1Itachary. 66
.
Olher CoouibllljQN 70
ConciwjQDl 70
to
DEVEIOP,,£:,,-[
7:i
Andent Speculations 76
Prot~Sarpkh\'1l Speculations 95
Clalll;sieaJ &\mkhya ... 13i
Rcnajs.uncc or Lafcr Siitpkbp 152
viii CONTENTS
III. AN INTERPRETATION OF THE NIEANING OF CC.ASSICAL
SAM. KHYA 154
"-.
The Means of Knowledge 157
prakrti, gU~las anq satkaryaIJiida 160
puru,fa 167
Association and Interaction of prakfli and puru,ia 171
Emergence and Functioning of the taU 176
Discrimination and Release 201
Conclusions and Final Evaluation 206
EPILOGUE: SaiLkara's Criticism of Sarpkhya and the
Sarp.khya Response .'. 209
i\ CHART of the Twenty-five Principles of Classical
Sa:rp.khya 236
GLOSSARY 237
ApPENDIX A. Chronological Chart 251
ApPENDIX B. The SiiT{lkhyakarika of Isvarakpgla 255
ApPENDIX C. A Modern Tradition of Sarpkhyayoga 278
ApPENDIX D. Additional Materials for the Study
of the History and Meaning of Classical Sarpkhya
since the First edition 279
BIBLIOGRAPHY 293
INDEX 311
PREFACE
To THE SECOND EDITION
Xearly ten years have elapsed since I wrote the first draft
of Classical Sii/'flkhya. The book was well-received and has gene
rally been considered a useful addition to the secondary literature
on classical SiiIpkhya. Indeed, as an historical and philoso
phical treatment of the subject, it continues to be one of the
few recent books available, and it is primarjIy for this reason
that I have decided to issue a second revised edition. In the
intellectual history of India (in the areas of technical philosophy,
religious speculation and general cultural devdopment), classical
Sii.Illkhya is of crucial significance, and yet there are few recent
books which deal adequately with the subject. All sorts of
books are readily available on Yoga, Buddhist meditation and
Vedanta. but very liltle on Salllkhya, which latter tradition
nevertheless represents an important historical and philosophical
basis for lHuch of the former. Sarpkhya deserves to be under
stood more fully by those generally interested in South Asian
religion and thought., and hopefully this second edition will be a
contribution to this general need. ~foreover, for the second
edition, joint publication in India and the United States has
been arranged, so that the work will be more easily available
for European and American students.
During the past ten years additional materials for the study
of SflIllkhya have become available, and, of course, my own
research with respect to the history and philosophical significance
of classical Satpkhya has progressed considerably. 1 have
decided, however, not to change the format of the book appre
ciably in the second edition, but simply to add some additional
rna terials and to correct obvious errors. Specifically, the
changes and additions are as follows. First, 1 have worked
through the text of the first edition, correcting errors and revising
the style here and there, especially ·in Chapters II and III.
Second, I have gone through my translation of thc Siil?lkk}'akdrikii,
correcting mistakes that ! have discovered or that have been
pointed out to me by reviewers and colleagues. Third, I have
added two additional interpretations of the meaning of the
Sfl.!~}khya, nalllely that of the l\Iarxist interpreter, Debiprasad
X PREFACE
Chattopadhyaya, and that of onc of modern India's most crea
tive philosophers, K. C. Bhattacharya. These additional
interpretations can be found toward the end of Chapter T.
Fourth, I have eliminated the comparison between Sartre and
Sarpkhya in the Epilogue of the book and in its place I have put
a critical analysis of Sankara's critique of Sarpkhya as the locus
classicus for the criticism of Sarpkhya ",.rithin its indigenous Indian_
environment. The. original comparison with Sartre, I now
feel, requires much fuller treatment, and I am working on a
manuscript which. takes up the methodological and interpretive
problems of such cross-cultural comparisons. For the present
book, however, a comparative discussion of Sarpkhya with an
indigenous Indian system (namely Sarikara's Vedanta) appears
to be much more appropriate. Finally, I have made some
changes in the appendices to the book. I have eliminated
Appendix: B of the first edition so that in this second revised
edition Appendix: B includes lhe text and translation of the
SdTflkhyakarika. Appendix C in the second revised edition
becomes "A Modern Tradition of Sfup.khyayoga." Appendix
D (entitled "Additional M~terials for the Study of the
History and Meaning of Classical Sarpkhya since the First
Edition" lis new, and includes (I) a brief critical survey
of historical and textual materials for the study of classical
Sarpkhya that have become available since the publica-
tion of the first editIon; and (2) a brief critical survey
of Sarpkhya in the PUTii.!)aS together with a discussion
of the relationship between classical philosophical Sarpkhya
and PuraI).ic Sarpkhya. Each of these discussions, in my judg
ment, fills an important gap remaining from the first edition,
and therefore hopefully the new material will not only bring
the book up to date but also provide a more balanced treatment
of the subject as a whole. Especially the discussion of 5ailkara's
critique of Sarpkhya represents an important extension beyond
the first edition of the book. In the first edition I attended
solely to the Sarpkhya sy~tem itst:f, giving very littlc attention
to the critical appraisal of Sarpkhya \vithin the Indian philo
sophical tradition. Several reviewers dghllr noted that this
\Vas an important omission, and I hope that my inclusion of
Sankara-'s critique in Jhe new Epiloguc to the second revised
edition will provide the reader with a more balanced view of
PREFACE xi
the place of Sarpkhya in India's philosophical heritage. I am
also including in the second edition a Chart of the Twenty-five
Principles of SaJTIkhya and a Glossary of Sarp.khya Terminology
both of which additions should prove useful to the beginning
student.
Finally, some personal comments and ackI?-O\·\'ledgements.
I have a strong sense of deja ~IU as I prepare this ne'. ..· Preface.
In 1968 I worked on the first edition while in residence as a
post-doctoral research scholar at Banaras Hindu University,
Varanasi, in what was at that time called the College of Indo
logy. Nov,-in 1977 I find myself working on the revised edition
of the book while again in residence at Banaras Hindu Univer
sity, only this time as an honorary visiting professor in the Depart
ment of Philosophy. :Moreover, my family and I are residing
in a house within a few steps of the quarter in which ,ve lived
when we were here in 1968-69. As was true at that time, so
as much or more on this occasion, I have benefitted greatly
from conversations and discussions about my subject with Indian
scholars and pandits in Varanasi. Professor N. S. S. Raman,
Head of the Department of Philosophy, has been a continuing
friend and support f()r my family and me during our stay in
India, and I would like to thank him for his good efforts on our
behalf. During my current stay I have also been giving a series
of lectures on SfuJlkhya in the Department of Philosophy at
BHU, attended by research scholars and f.1.culty, and I would
especially like to thank Professors N. S. S. Raman, R. K. 1'ri
pathi, N. K. Devaraja, R. S. Misra and A. K. Chatterjee for
their patience, interest and suggestions regarding my frequently
unconventional interpretations of SflTpkhya. Also my thanks
to the various research scholars (and, in particular, to Mr.
Jayanda Soni) who have listened to my views on Sfupkhya in
the medium ()f my American English and who have C01Jrte~
olJ~ly refrained from laughing at my less-than-perfect Hindi.
My thanks also to Pandir Ram Shankar Bhattacharya ofVaranasi
Whose intimate acquaintance with the original Sanskrit texts
of Satpkhya and Yoga always amaze~ me and whose willingness
to share his learning continually puts me in his debt.
Apart from my lectures in the Department of Philosophy
at BHU, I have also been pursuing vV'ork (in collaboration with
Pandit Ram Shankar Bhattacharya) on the Sa11lkhya and Yoga
xii PREFACE
volumes of the Enc;'Clopedia of Indian Philosophies, under the general
editorship of Karl H. Potter. For the encyclopedia volumes
Dr. Bhattacharya and I (along with scholars in India, Europe
and the United States) are preparing summaries in English of
some one-hundred-and-twenty original Sanskrit texts of Sarp.khya
and Yoga from the beginning of the tradition down to the
present day. The volumes will also include detailed, analytic
introductions to Sarp.khya and Yoga philosophy. Support for
this research and for our travel to India has come fi'orn thrce
sources, and I would like to acknowledge my gratitude and
appreciation for the following grants: (a) a senior fellowship
from the Indo-U.S. Subcommission on Education and Culture;
(b) a senior fellowship from the American Institute of Indian
Studies; and (c) a Humanities Institute Grant from the Uni
versity of California, Santa Barbara, where I am curre~tly on
the faculty in the Department of Religious Studies.
Varanasi (India) GJL
Fcbruary, 1979
PREFACE
This book represents a somewhat revised version of my
doctoral dissertation. submitted to the Faculty of Philosophy,
Columbia University. New York City, Spring 196i. The con·
tent of the present work is much the same as the original dis
sertation, although I have made a number of changes in style,
bibliography, etc. Also, I have added to the present book the
Sanskrit text of the StirrzkhyakiiriM.
There was some question in my mind whether to leave
Chapter I in its entirety in the published edition of the work.
The Chapterdea1s with a critical review of the history of Vvestern
scholarship on Sarp.khya. Had the book been published pri
marily for a \-Vestern audience, I would have edited out some
sections of this rather long Chapter. Since the book is being
published in India, however, and will be read primarily by
Indian and Aiian students generally, I felt that all of the material
of Chapter I might prove especially useful.
Since the completion of my original research for the dis
sertation, several new studies on classical SiiIpkhya have appear
ed. None required any major changes in my own research or
conclusions, but I have tried to incorporate some of these studies
in my notes and bibliography. Two such items, however,
require specific mention. (1) R. C, Pandeya's new critical
edition of the Tuktidipikii (New Delhi : Motilal Ba~arsidass,
1967). It is a great improvement over the older edition and
requires careful study. The rUktidipikii, however, is a difficult
Sanskrit text, and I still hesitate to use it extensively until· I
have had more time to work with it. (2) S. A. Srinivasan's
Vlicaspatimifra's TaUrJakaumudi : Ein Beitrag zur Textkritik bei
kontaminierter Uberlieferung. (Hamburg: Cram, De Gruyter
and Co., 1967). This also is a great improvement over all
other editions of TattrJakaumudi, and is an important contribu
tion to Sarpkhya studies.
I wish'to acknowledge my. gratitude to the following per~
sons at Columbia University, New York City, who helped me a
great deal in my research while I was still a doctoral candidate: