Astika and nastika

Also called: Orthodox and heterodox schools · Topic: The Vedic Age · NCERT: Beyond NCERT

Meaning

Astika and nastika are the traditional way of sorting Indian schools of philosophy. Astika (orthodox) schools accept the authority of the Vedas. Nastika (heterodox) schools reject that authority. The six astika schools are called the six darshanas (systems of seeing truth). The best-known nastika schools are Buddhism, Jainism, Charvaka (Lokayata) and Ajivika.

It matters because UPSC often tests which school falls on which side. A common trap is to assume that "astika" means "believes in God". It does not. The test is whether a school accepts the Vedas.

Explanation

Background: questioning grows out of the Vedic world

• The Upanishads moved the focus from ritual (doing sacrifices correctly) to knowledge of the Self. Scholars date them to roughly 700–500 BCE [2].
• Early in the 1st millennium BCE, separate schools of thought began to grow out of the Vedas. Vedanta and Yoga are the main examples in our notes.
• Around the middle of the 1st millennium BCE, a strong renunciant trend appeared:
• People gave up home and property to search for truth. They were called parivrājaka (wanderer), bhikṣhu (one who lives on alms) and śhramaṇa (one who strives).

• This happened while tribal village society was giving way to towns and kingdoms [4].

• Some of these thinkers stayed inside the Vedic frame, and some broke away from it.

• Those who kept the Vedas as their final authority became the astika schools.
• Those who rejected it, such as the Buddha, Mahāvīra and the materialists, became the nastika schools.

The six astika schools (darshanas)

The six are usually studied in three pairs. The founders below are the ones tradition names.

• Nyaya: the school of logic and correct reasoning. Its founder is traditionally named as Gautama (Akshapada).
• Vaisheshika: the school of atoms. It holds that the world is made of tiny, eternal particles. Its founder is traditionally named as Kanada.
• Samkhya: a dualist school. It explains the world through two basic realities, purusha (spirit or consciousness) and prakriti (matter). Its founder is traditionally named as Kapila.
• Yoga: the practical method for freeing the self. Patañjali set it down in the Yoga Sūtras, which are dated to about the 2nd century BCE (some scholars say the 5th century CE) [6].
• The Yoga Sūtras set out the eight-limbed path, Aṣhṭāṅga Yoga. Its limbs run from ethical rules to samādhi (deep absorption) [6][7].

• Yoga is close to Samkhya, but it adds a supreme lord, Īśhvara [7].

• Mimamsa (Purva Mimamsa): explains Vedic ritual and duty. Its founder is traditionally named as Jaimini.

• Vedanta (Uttara Mimamsa): literally "the end of the Veda". It builds on the Upanishads and teaches that everything is one essence, brahman. The Brahma Sūtra is traditionally credited to Badarayana.
• Vedanta later split into Advaita (Shankara, 8th century CE, unqualified non-dualism), Ramanuja's qualified non-dualism (Vishishtadvaita) and Madhva's dualism (Dvaita) [1][5].

The nastika schools

• Buddhism: founded by the Buddha. It rejected the authority of the Vedas, Vedic sacrifice and the claim that Brahmins were superior by birth.
• Jainism: its great teacher was Mahāvīra. It rejected the Vedas and stressed ahimsa (non-violence) and strict self-control.
• Ajivika: linked to Makkhali Gosala. It taught niyati (fate). In this view everything is fixed in advance and human effort cannot change it.
• Charvaka / Lokayata: the materialist school, which tradition links to Brihaspati.
• It accepted only what the senses can see as true.
• It denied rebirth, the soul surviving death, and the value of sacrifice.

How the label worked

• The test was the Vedas, not God.
• Samkhya does not need a creator god, and early Mimamsa gave no central place to one. Both are still astika because they accept the Vedas.

• Buddhism and Jainism do not rely on a creator god either. They are nastika because they reject the Vedas.

• The list of six is mostly a later arrangement. The sutra texts of these schools were written over many centuries, and most are later than the Vedic Age. Commentators then grouped them into a neat set of six.

• The two sides argued with each other all the time. Nyaya logic, for example, sharpened through long debates with Buddhist thinkers. The line between them was a line of argument, not of hatred.

Time, place and evidence

• Roots: the later Vedic and Upanishadic period, roughly 700–500 BCE for the main Upanishads [2], and mainly the Gangetic plains of north India.
• The split becomes clear: the mid-1st millennium BCE, with the renouncers, the Buddha and Mahāvīra, at a time when towns and kingdoms were rising [4].
• Key people: Uddālaka Āruṇi, Yājñavalkya and Gārgī for Upanishadic thought, which is the source of Vedanta. Patañjali for Yoga [6]. Shankara, Ramanuja and Madhva for later Vedanta [1][5]. The Buddha, Mahāvīra and Makkhali Gosala among the nastikas.
• How we know:
• The Upanishads, especially the Bṛihadāraṇyaka and Chhāndogya [2][3].
• The sutra texts of each school, such as the Yoga Sūtras [6].

• Buddhist and Jain texts. Much of what we know about the Charvakas and Ajivikas comes from their opponents, because few of their own works survive.

• Renunciation inside the Vedic tradition: the vānaprastha (forest-dweller) and saṁnyāsa (homeless renouncer) stages [8][9] show that giving up worldly life was not only a nastika idea.

Don't confuse with

• Theist vs atheist: astika does not mean "believer in God". Samkhya and Mimamsa are astika without needing a creator god. The only test is acceptance of the Vedas.
• Shramana: śhramaṇa ("one who strives") is a name for a wandering renouncer, not for a camp in this debate. The nastika schools came out of the shramana world, but renunciation also existed inside the Vedic tradition (vānaprastha, saṁnyāsa) [8][9].
• Upanishads vs Vedanta: the Upanishads are texts at the end of the Vedas. Vedanta is the school of philosophy built on them, which later split into Advaita, Vishishtadvaita and Dvaita [1][5].
• Samkhya vs Yoga: they are close partners, but Yoga adds Īśhvara (a supreme lord) and focuses on practice. Samkhya is the theory of purusha and prakriti [7].

Prelims Hooks

• The six astika darshanas, in three pairs: Nyaya–Vaisheshika, Samkhya–Yoga, Mimamsa–Vedanta.
• Traditional founders: Nyaya – Gautama; Vaisheshika – Kanada; Samkhya – Kapila; Yoga – Patañjali [6]; Mimamsa – Jaimini; Vedanta – Badarayana.
• Nastika schools: Buddhism, Jainism, Ajivika (Makkhali Gosala), Charvaka/Lokayata (materialism).
• Trap: Samkhya is astika even though it needs no creator god, because it accepts the Vedas.
• Vaisheshika = the school of atoms. Ajivika = the school of fate (niyati). Charvaka = the school that trusts only sense perception.
• Advaita (Shankara, 8th century CE) → Vishishtadvaita (Ramanuja) → Dvaita (Madhva), all branches of Vedanta [1][5].

Mains Points

• A tradition of open debate. India produced both Veda-accepting and Veda-rejecting philosophies, including outright materialism, and they argued with each other for centuries.
• This continues the Upanishadic method of questioning, seen in Gārgī's cross-examination of Yājñavalkya [3].

• It is a strong example of India's tradition of tarka (reasoned argument) and of living with many views.

• Continuity, not just revolt. The nastika schools grew from the same śhramaṇa churn that also shaped Upanishadic thought [4]. Karma, rebirth and liberation are shared by both sides.

• So Buddhism and Jainism are better seen as one branch of a common search, not a sudden "revolt" against Vedic religion.

• Renunciation already existed in the Vedic tradition through vānaprastha and saṁnyāsa [8][9].

• Social and economic setting. The split sharpened as towns, trade and mahājanapadas (large kingdoms) grew in the mid-1st millennium BCE [4].

• Nastika schools rejected Vedic sacrifice and Brahmin claims to superiority by birth.
• This appealed to merchants and other groups in the new urban society, which links philosophy to the history of the Second Urbanisation.

Related concepts

• Upanishads
• Brihadaranyaka Upanishad
• Chandogya Upanishad
• Uddalaka Aruni
• Tat tvam asi
• Katha Upanishad
• Nachiketa
• Mundaka Upanishad
• Satyameva Jayate
• Atman

Read more

• Upanishadic thought: Vedanta, Yoga and the questioning spirit