Indian Philosophical Systems
Indian Philosophical Systems
This domain surveys the orthodox and heterodox systems, their central concepts and their methods of knowledge. The exam tests accurate school-wise attribution and key doctrines.
Core rules
- Orthodox systems accept Vedic authority: Nyaya, Vaisesika, Samkhya, Yoga, Mimamsa and Vedanta. Heterodox systems include Charvaka, Buddhism and Jainism.
- Nyaya specialises in logic and pramanas; Vaisesika in categories and atomism; Samkhya in purusha and prakriti; Yoga in discipline and concentration.
- Mimamsa stresses ritual and dharma; Advaita Vedanta holds Brahman alone is real and the self is not separate.
- Buddhist thought includes anatta (no permanent self), dependent origination and the four noble truths. Jainism teaches anekantavada and syadvada.
- Charvaka is materialist and empiricist, rejecting afterlife and ritual authority. The Bhagavad Gita’s nishkama karma is action without attachment to results.
Worked example
Nyaya inference: ‘The hill has fire because it has smoke.’ The perception of smoke is the reason; the universal relation between smoke and fire is the vyapti. The conclusion is inferential, not perceptual. If the vyapti is faulty, the inference fails.
Traps
Do not attribute anatta to Vedanta or atman to Buddhism; do not treat Charvaka as a theistic school; and do not confuse Samkhya’s purusha with the Advaitic Brahman. Learn each school’s pramanas.