Shad darshana

Also called: Six darshanas, six schools of Indian philosophy · Topic: The Vedic Age · NCERT: Beyond NCERT

Meaning

Shad darshana (the six darshanas, from a Sanskrit word meaning "seeing" or "a way of looking at truth") are the six orthodox (āstika) schools of Indian philosophy. Usually they are grouped in three pairs: Nyāya–Vaiśeṣika, Sāṁkhya–Yoga and Pūrva Mīmāṁsā–Uttara Mīmāṁsā (Vedānta). All six accept the Vedas as their final authority, but they give very different answers about how we know things, what the world is made of and how a person gains liberation (mokṣa).

They matter because, together, they became the base of what we now call 'Hinduism'. Ideas from them, such as Vedanta and Yoga, are still alive in India and around the world today.

Explanation

Background: from Vedic ritual to philosophy

• The later Vedic texts, the Upaniṣhads, moved the focus away from ritual (doing sacrifices correctly) and towards knowledge of the Self. Scholars date them to about 700–500 BCE [2].
• The Upanishads raised big new questions:
• Karma — your actions and their results shape what comes next.
• Rebirth — after death, a being is born again into a new life.

• Ātman (the Self inside every being) and brahman (the one divine essence of everything). Their key claim is that ātman = brahman [5].

• They taught by dialogue. Pupils such as Nachiketa, Śhvetaketu and Gārgī asked questions and teachers answered. This habit of argument and questioning helped the later schools grow.

• NCERT says that early in the 1st millennium BCE, distinct schools of thought grew out of the Vedas. Later, each school wrote down its teachings in short sayings called sūtras. Historians still debate the dates of most of these texts.
• NCERT calls them 'schools of thought', not separate religions. They were ways of thinking and practising, not closed-off faiths.

The six schools in three pairs

• Nyāya — the school of logic. Its founder is traditionally said to be Gautama (also called Akṣapāda).
• It asks how we can know anything for certain.

• It lists the pramāṇas (valid ways of gaining knowledge): perception, inference, comparison and reliable word.

• Vaiśeṣika — the school of physics, founded according to tradition by Kaṇāda.

• It teaches that the physical world is made of tiny, indivisible atoms (paramāṇu).

• It sorts everything that exists into fixed categories.

• Sāṁkhya — traditionally linked to the sage Kapila.

• It is dualist: reality has two separate principles. One is puruṣa (pure consciousness) and the other is prakṛti (matter or nature).

• Liberation comes from knowing clearly that the two are different.

• Yoga — the practical method that goes with Sāṁkhya.

• Vedanta says what is true. Yoga gives the practice for realising it in one's own mind.
• Patañjali codified it in the Yoga Sūtras, usually dated to about the 2nd century BCE, though some scholars say the 5th century CE [7].
• It sets out Aṣhṭāṅga Yoga (the eight-limbed path): ethical restraints, disciplines, āsana (posture), prāṇāyāma (breath control), pratyāhāra (drawing the senses inward), dhāraṇā (concentration), dhyāna (meditation) and samādhi (deep absorption) [7][8].

• It is close to Sāṁkhya, but it adds a supreme lord, Īśhvara [8].

• Pūrva Mīmāṁsā ("the earlier enquiry") — traditionally founded by Jaimini.

• It deals with the earlier, ritual part of the Vedas.

• It teaches that correctly performing Vedic duties and rites (dharma) is the path.

• Uttara Mīmāṁsā / Vedānta ("the later enquiry" or "the end of the Veda") — its basic text, the Brahma Sūtra, is traditionally credited to Bādarāyaṇa.

• It builds on the Upanishads and teaches that everything is one divine essence, brahman.

How Vedanta changed over time

• Vedanta did not stay one school. It split into a family of schools, and each one allows a different degree of identity between ātman and brahman [1][6]:
• Advaita (unqualified non-dualism) — Shankara, 8th century CE. Ātman and brahman are completely one [1][6].
• Viśiṣṭādvaita (qualified non-dualism) — Ramanuja. The two are one, but the soul keeps some real difference [1][6].
• Dvaita (dualism) — Madhva. God and the soul are always separate [1][6].

Results and legacy

• The six schools gave Indian thought a shared vocabulary: karma, mokṣa, pramāṇa, ātman, brahman.
• They argued with each other, and also with the nāstika (non-Vedic) schools such as Buddhism and Jainism. This kept a strong tradition of tarka (reasoned argument) alive.
• Yoga is now practised worldwide. On 11 December 2014, the UN declared 21 June as the International Day of Yoga (resolution 69/131). India proposed it, and a record 175 member states co-sponsored it [9].

Time, place and evidence

• Roots: the later Vedic period and the Upanishads (c. 700–500 BCE [2]). The Bṛihadāraṇyaka (c. 10th–5th century BCE [3]) and the Chhāndogya are the oldest and most important Upanishads [2][3].
• Growth: NCERT places the rise of distinct schools of thought early in the 1st millennium BCE. The sūtra texts that formally organised each school came later, and most of their dates are uncertain.
• Setting: northern India, at a time when tribal rural society was giving way to towns and kingdoms [4]. Ideas were passed down in the gurukula (where the pupil lived in the teacher's home) through the guru–śhiṣhya paramparā (an unbroken chain from teacher to pupil).
• Key people: Gautama (Nyāya), Kaṇāda (Vaiśeṣika), Kapila (Sāṁkhya), Patañjali (Yoga), Jaimini (Pūrva Mīmāṁsā) and Bādarāyaṇa (Vedānta). Later came Shankara, Ramanuja and Madhva [1][6]. The founders are named by tradition. Little is known about them as real historical people.
• How we know: from texts, not inscriptions or archaeology. These texts are the Upanishads, the sūtras of each school (such as the Yoga Sūtras [7] and the Brahma Sūtra) and the long commentaries written on them.

Don't confuse with

• Nāstika schools (Buddhism, Jainism, Chārvāka/Lokāyata, Ājīvika): these reject the authority of the Vedas. The shad darshana all accept it. "Āstika" here means "accepts the Vedas", not "believes in God". Pūrva Mīmāṁsā and early Sāṁkhya give little or no role to a creator God, yet they are still āstika.
• Six Vedāṅgas (śikṣā, kalpa, vyākaraṇa, nirukta, chhandas, jyotiṣa): these are six helper subjects for studying the Vedas, such as phonetics, ritual, grammar and astronomy. They are not schools of philosophy.
• Pūrva Mīmāṁsā vs Uttara Mīmāṁsā: Pūrva = the ritual part of the Vedas, with Jaimini as its founder. Uttara (Vedānta) = the knowledge part, meaning the Upanishads, with its Brahma Sūtra credited to Bādarāyaṇa.
• Sāṁkhya vs Yoga: they share the same picture of the world (puruṣa and prakṛti). Yoga adds practice (the eight limbs) and a supreme lord, Īśhvara [8].

Prelims Hooks

• Founder pairs (by tradition): Nyāya – Gautama; Vaiśeṣika – Kaṇāda; Sāṁkhya – Kapila; Yoga – Patañjali; Pūrva Mīmāṁsā – Jaimini; Vedānta – Bādarāyaṇa.
• Atomic theory (paramāṇu) → Vaiśeṣika. Logic and pramāṇas → Nyāya. Puruṣa–prakṛti dualism → Sāṁkhya.
• Patañjali's Yoga Sūtras (c. 2nd century BCE) set out Aṣhṭāṅga Yoga, the eight limbs, ending in samādhi [7].
• Advaita – Shankara (8th century CE); Viśiṣṭādvaita – Ramanuja; Dvaita – Madhva [1][6].
• Trap: Buddhism, Jainism and Chārvāka are NOT among the six darshanas. They are nāstika because they reject the Vedas.
• International Day of Yoga = 21 June. The UN declared it on 11 December 2014 (resolution 69/131) [9].

Mains Points

• Unity in diversity of thought. All six schools accept the Vedas, yet they disagree on almost everything else: atoms vs one brahman, ritual vs knowledge, two realities vs one. This shows that Indian tradition gave room to open debate inside one shared framework. It is a useful point for GS-I questions on India's tradition of tarka and on women such as Gārgī taking part in debate.
• From ritual to knowledge, and continuity.
• The darshanas grew from the Upanishadic shift away from sacrifice and towards knowledge of the Self [2].
• They ran alongside the śhramaṇa (striver) and renunciant movements of the mid-1st millennium BCE, at a time of urbanisation and new kingdoms [4].

• This supports a "churn and continuity" reading of the period, not a simple "revolt against the Vedas" story.

• Living legacy. Vedanta branched into Advaita, Viśiṣṭādvaita and Dvaita [1][6]. Yoga is now a global practice recognised by the UN [9]. Use these points in answers on the continuity of Indian culture and on India's soft power.

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