Vaiśeṣika Sūtra

The name Vaiśeṣika Sūtra (Sanskrit: वैशेषिक सूत्र) is derived from viśeṣa, विशेष, which means "particularity", that is to be contrasted from "universality".{{cite book|author=Wilhelm Halbfass|title=On Being and What There Is: Classical Vaisesika and the History of Indian Ontology| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x7cLHPj1dj8C&pg=PA272| year=1992| publisher=State University of New York Press |isbn=978-0-7914-1178-0|page=272}} The classes particularity and universality belong to different categories of experience.

Till the 1950s, only one manuscript of Vaiseshika sutra was known and this manuscript called as Upaskara was part of a bhasya by the 15th century philosopher Sankara Mishra from the Mithila region.{{Sfn|Bimal Krishna Matilal|1977|pp=55-56}} Scholars had doubted its authenticity, given the inconsistencies in this manuscript and the quotes in other Hindu, Jaina and Buddhist literature claiming to be from the Vaisheshika Sutra. In the 1950s and early 1960s, new manuscripts of Vaiśeṣika Sūtra were discovered in distant parts of India, which were later identified as this Sutra.{{Sfn|Bimal Krishna Matilal|1977|pp=55-56}}{{cite book|author=Wilhelm Halbfass|title=On Being and What There Is: Classical Vaisesika and the History of Indian Ontology|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x7cLHPj1dj8C |year=1992|publisher=State University of New York Press|isbn=978-0-7914-1178-0|pages=79–80}} These newer manuscripts are quite different, more consistent with the historical literature, and suggests that, like other major texts and scriptures of Hinduism, Vaiśeṣika Sūtra too suffered interpolations, errors in transmission and distortion over time. A critical edition of the Vaiśeṣika Sūtra is now available.{{Sfn|Bimal Krishna Matilal|1977|pp=55-56}}

The Vaisheshika Sutras mention the doctrines of competing schools of Indian philosophy such as Samkhya and Mimamsa,{{Sfn|Bimal Krishna Matilal|1977|p=54}} but make no mention of Buddhism, which has led scholars in more recent publications to posit estimates of 6th to 2nd century BCE.{{Sfn| Bart Labuschagne| Timo Slootweg|2012|p=60, Quote: "Kanada, a Hindu sage who lived either around the 6th or 2nd century BCE, and who founded the philosophical school of Vaisheshika.}}{{Sfn|Jeaneane D. Fowler|2002|pp=98-99}}{{Sfn|H. Margenau|2012|p=xxx-xxxi}}

The critical edition studies of Vaisheshika Sutras manuscripts discovered after 1950, suggest that the text attributed to Kanada existed in a finalized form sometime between 200 BCE and the start of the common era, with the possibility that its key doctrines are much older.{{Sfn|Bimal Krishna Matilal|1977|p=54}}{{Sfn|Jeaneane D. Fowler|2002|pp=98-99}} Multiple Hindu texts dated to the 1st and 2nd century CE, such as the Mahavibhasa and Jnanaprasthana from the Kushan Empire, quote and comment on Kanada's doctrines.{{Sfn|Bimal Krishna Matilal|1977|p=55}} Although the Vaisheshika Sutras makes no mention of the doctrines of Jainism and Buddhism, their ancient texts mention Vaisheshika Sutras doctrines and use its terminology,{{Sfn|Bimal Krishna Matilal|1977|p=55}}{{cite book|author=Johannes Bronkhorst|editor=Patrick Olivelle|title=Between the Empires: Society in India 300 BCE to 400 CE|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=efaOR_-YsIcC |year=2006|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-977507-1|pages=283–294}} particularly Buddhism's Sarvastivada tradition, as well as the works of Nagarjuna.{{cite book|author=David Seyfort Ruegg|title=The Literature of the Madhyamaka School of Philosophy in India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PSDDgB5ulIEC |year=1981|publisher=Otto Harrassowitz Verlag|isbn=978-3-447-02204-0|pages=10, 50–51}}

Physics is central to Kaṇāda's assertion that all that is knowable is based on motion. His ascribing centrality to physics in the understanding of the universe also follows from his invariance principles. For example, he says that the atom must be spherical since it should be the same in all dimensions.[https://medium.com/@subhashkak1/kaṇāda-the-great-physicist-and-sage-of-antiquity-5a2abd79b6f1 Kak, S. Kaṇāda, Great Physicist and Sage of Antiquity] He asserts that all substances are composed of atoms, two of which have mass and two are massless.

{{Quote box |width=24em | bgcolor=#FFE0BB |align=right |salign = right

|quote=The opening sutras

Now an explanation of dharma,

the means to prosperity and salvation is dharma.

|source =—Vaisheshika Sutra, Transl: Klaus Klostermaier{{cite book|author=Klaus K. Klostermaier |title=Survey of Hinduism, A: Third Edition |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8CVviRghVtIC |year=2010|publisher=State University of New York Press|isbn=978-0-7914-8011-3 |page=334 }}}}

The philosophy in Vaiseshika sutra is atomistic pluralism, states Jayatilleke.{{cite book|author=K N Jayatilleke|title=Early Buddhist Theory of Knowledge|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6pBTAQAAQBAJ |year=2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-54287-1|page=266}} Its ideas are known for its contributions to "inductive inference", and often coupled with the "deductive logic" of the sister school of Hinduism called the Nyaya.{{cite book|author=Klaus K. Klostermaier |title=Survey of Hinduism, A: Third Edition |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8CVviRghVtIC |year=2010|publisher=State University of New York Press|isbn=978-0-7914-8011-3 |pages=333–334 }} James Thrower and others call Vaiśeṣika philosophy to be naturalism.{{cite book|author=James Thrower|title=The Alternative Tradition: Religion and the Rejection of Religion in the Ancient World |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xpXfiGyGbYEC | year=1980| publisher=Walter de Gruyter|isbn=978-90-279-7997-1|pages=76–90}}[http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/naturalism-india/#AtoNyaVai Naturalism in Classical Indian Philosophy], Amita Chatterjee (2012), Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

The text states:[https://archive.org/stream/thevaiasesikasut00kanauoft#page/n7/mode/2up The Vaisheshika sutras of Kanada], 2nd Edition, Translator: Nandalal Sinha (1923); Editor: BD Basu; Note: this is the translation of non-critical edition of the manuscript

• There are nine constituents of realities: four classes of atoms (earth, water, fire and air), space (akasha), time (kāla), direction (disha), infinity of souls (Atman), mind (manas).O'Flaherty, p. 3.
• Every object of creation is made of atoms (parmanu) which in turn connect with each other to form molecules (anu). Atoms are eternal, and their combinations constitute the empirical material world.
• Individual souls are eternal and pervade material body for a time.
• There are six categories (padārtha) of experience — substance, quality, activity, generality, particularity, and inherence.

Several traits of substances (dravya) are given as color, taste, smell, touch, number, size, the separate, coupling and uncoupling, priority and posterity, comprehension, pleasure and pain, attraction and revulsion, and wishes.Vitsaxis, Vassilis. Thought and Faith: Comparative Philosophical and Religious Concepts in Ancient Greece, India, and Christianity. Somerset Hall Pr 2009-10-01 (October 2009). P. 299. {{ISBN|1935244035}}. Like many foundational texts of classical schools of Hindu philosophy, God is not mentioned in the sutra, and the text is non-theistic.{{cite book|author=Surendranath Dasgupta|title= A History of Indian Philosophy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PoaMFmS1_lEC |year=1992|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=978-81-208-0412-8 |pages=281–285 }}{{cite book|author=Roy W. Perrett |title=Philosophy of Religion: Indian Philosophy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Sf9XAQAAQBAJ |year=2013|publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-70329-5 |pages=xiii–xiv}}

File:2 Pramana Epistemology Vaisheshika Hindu school.svg) in Vaisheshika.John A. Grimes, A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy: Sanskrit Terms Defined in English, State University of New York Press, {{ISBN|978-0791430675}}, page 238]]

The critical edition of the Vaisheshika Sutras are divided into ten chapters, each subdivided into two sections called āhnikas:{{cite book|author=M. Hiriyanna|title=The Essentials of Indian Philosophy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QeRIP-TuKLAC |year=1995|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|isbn=978-81-208-1330-4|page=85}}{{refn|group=note|The later texts of the Vaisesika school expanded and revised some of these ideas, categories and theories, as did scholars of Jainism, Buddhism and other Hinduism schools.{{Sfn|Bimal Krishna Matilal|1977|pp=53-54}}}}

Kanada opens his Sutra with definitions of Dharma, the importance of the Vedas and his goals. The text, states Matilal, then defines and describes three categories and their causal aspects: substance, quality and action.{{Sfn|Bimal Krishna Matilal|1977|p=56}} He explains their differences, similarities and relationships between these three. The second part of first chapter defines and explains a universal, a particular (viśeṣa,{{Sfn|Bimal Krishna Matilal|1977|p=53}}) and their hierarchical relationship. Kanada states that it is from combination of particulars that some universals emerge.{{Sfn|Bimal Krishna Matilal|1977|p=56}}

The second chapter of the Vaisheshika Sutras presents five substances (earth, air, water, fire, space) each with a distinct quality. Kanada argues that all except "air and space" is verifiable by perception, while existence of invisible air is established by inference (air blows, and that there must be a substance that affects the touch sensation to the skin; space, he argues, is inferred from one's ability to move from one point to another unhindered - a point he revises in later part of the text by asserting that sound is perceived and proves space).{{Sfn|Bimal Krishna Matilal|1977|p=56}}

Kanada states his premises about the atman (self, soul) and its validity.

Discussion the body and its adjuncts. In this chapter the concept of Akāraṇavat is introduced.{{Cite book |last=Anil De |url=https://archive.org/details/vaisesikasutrasofkanadanandalalsinhasbh_202003_365_u |title=Vaisesika Sutras Of Kanada Nandalal Sinha SBH}}File:The silver lining inside the forest.jpg

In the fifth chapter action connected with the body and action connected with the mind are investigated. The text defines and discusses Yoga and Moksha, asserting that self-knowledge (atma-saksatkara) is the means to spiritual liberation.{{Sfn|Bimal Krishna Matilal|1977|p=58}}[https://archive.org/stream/thevaiasesikasut00kanauoft#page/n11/mode/2up The Vaisesika Sutras of Kanada], page 3, Translated by Nandalal Sinha (note this translation is of the old disputed manuscript, not critical edition) In this chapter, Kanada mentions various natural phenomena such as the falling of objects to ground, rising of fire upwards, the growth of grass upwards, the nature of rainfall and thunderstorms, the flow of liquids, the movement towards a magnet among many others; he then attempts to integrate his observations with his theories, and classifies phenomenon into two: those caused by volition, and those caused by subject-object conjunctions.{{Sfn|Bimal Krishna Matilal|1977|p=57}}[https://archive.org/stream/thevaiasesikasut00kanauoft#page/296/mode/2up The Vaisesika Sutras of Kanada], pagez 152-166, Translated by Nandalal Sinha (note this translation is of the old disputed manuscript, not critical edition)John Wells (2009), [http://darshanapress.com/The%20Vaisheshika%20Darshana.pdf The Vaisheshika Darshana], Darshana Press, Chapter 5 verses (main and appendix)

In the sixth chapter puṇya (virtue) and pāpa (sin) are examined both as moral precepts and as discussed in the Vedas and Upanishads.{{Sfn|Bimal Krishna Matilal|1977|p=58}}

In the seventh chapter discusses qualities such as color and taste as a function of heat, time, object and subject. Kanada dedicates a significant number of Sutras to his theory and importance of measurement.{{Sfn|Bimal Krishna Matilal|1977|p=58}}

In the eighth chapter, Kanada dwells on nature of cognition and reality, arguing that cognition is a function of the object (substance) and subject. Some sutras are unclear, such as one on Artha, which Kanada states is applicable only to "substance, quality and action" per his chapter one.{{Sfn|Bimal Krishna Matilal|1977|p=58}}

Kanada discusses epistemology, particularly the nature of perception, inference and human reasoning process.{{Sfn|Bimal Krishna Matilal|1977|p=58}}

The final chapter focuses on the soul, its attributes and its threefold causes. Kanada asserts that human happiness and suffering is linked to ignorance, confusion and knowledge of the soul. He develops his theories of efficient cause, karma, body, mind, cognition and memory to present his thesis. He mentions meditation as a means of soul knowledge.{{Sfn|Bimal Krishna Matilal|1977|p=59}}[https://archive.org/stream/thevaiasesikasut00kanauoft#page/296/mode/2up The Vaisesika Sutras of Kanada], pagez 296-304, Translated by Nandalal Sinha (note this translation is of the old disputed manuscript, not critical edition)John Wells (2009), [http://darshanapress.com/The%20Vaisheshika%20Darshana.pdf The Vaisheshika Darshana], Darshana Press, pages 32-34

{{Reflist|group=note}}

{{reflist|30em}}

• {{cite book |last1=Cowell |first1=E. B. |last2=Gough |first2=A. E. |title=The Sarva-Darsana-Samgraha by Madhvacharya: Trubner's Oriental Series |url=https://archive.org/details/Sarva-Darsana-Samgraha.by.Madhavacharya-Vidyaranya.tr.by.E.B.Cowell |year=1882 |publisher=Taylor & Francis (2001 Reprint) |isbn=978-0-415-24517-3 }}
• {{cite book|author=Jeaneane D. Fowler |title=Perspectives of Reality: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Hinduism |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8dRZ4E-qgz8C| year=2002| publisher=Sussex Academic Press |isbn=978-1-898723-93-6}}
• Subhash Kak (2016), Matter and Mind: The Vaiśeṣika Sūtra of Kaṇāda {{ISBN|9781988207148}}
• {{cite book|author=H. Margenau|title=Physics and Philosophy: Selected Essays|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gfrtCAAAQBAJ |year=2012 |publisher=Springer Science |isbn=978-94-009-9845-2}}
• {{cite book|author=Bimal Krishna Matilal|title=Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JyJ--9uUtx0C |year=1977|publisher=Otto Harrassowitz Verlag|isbn=978-3-447-01807-4 }}
• {{cite book|author1=Bart Labuschagne|author2=Timo Slootweg|title=Hegel's Philosophy of the Historical Religions|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zHa3WiPqpiYC |year=2012|publisher=BRILL Academic|isbn=978-90-04-22618-0}}
• O'Flaherty, Wendy Doniger. Textual Sources for the Study of Hinduism (Textual Sources for the Study of Religion). {{ISBN|0226618471}}.

• [https://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/vaisheshika-sutra-commentary Vaisheshika-sutra with three commentaries] English translation by Nandalal Sinha, 1923 (includes glossary)

{{Indian Philosophy}}

{{Hindudharma}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vaisesika Sutra}}

Category:Ancient Indian literature

Category:Sutras (Hinduism)

Category:Indian philosophy

Category:Atomism

Category:Historical physics publications