India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c11.s3.29

c11.s3.29

*DIFFERENT SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT*—Pāṇini classifies the views of various philosophical thinkers under three categories according to the basic points of view implied in their teachings. They were (1) *Āstika*, (2) *Nāstika* and (3) *Daishṭika* (*Asti nāsti dishṭaṁ matiḥ*, IV.4.60). A list of principal philosophic doctrines or *matis* is preserved in the *Śvet. Up.* I.2 (also *Charaka*, Sūtrasthāna, ch. 25; *Suśruta*, Śārīrasthāna, 1.11). At the head of the list appears *Kāla* or Time as the cause of the world, known as *Kālavāda* (*Mūlapariyāya Jātaka*, II.pp.260-61). It occurs in the *Mahābhārata* in a more elaborate form (*Śāntiparva*, 220. 29-110). According to Pāṇini, the time-denoting words had attained the status of a deity (*devatā*) fit to be worshipped (IV.2.34). Stars and Seasons (IV.2.31, *Ṛitur-devatāsya ṛitavyam*) were similarly deified.