Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c7.s7.t10.9

v1.c7.s7.t10.9

The earliest foundational texts of the Samkhya school never survived including one particularly important - Samkhya work, *Sastitantra*. The earliest extant work that offers a systematic exposition of the school is the *Samkhya-karika* by Isvarakrsna. Although created hardly any earlier than the foundational texts of other orthodox schools of philosophy in ancient India, due to the fact that most of the major *Samkhya* texts had been lost before the book, it had been widely considered the foundational text of the Samkhya school. Following *Samkhya-karika*, the most significant *Samkhya* works primarily comprised commentaries on the book, with the five existing ones being: *Suvarṇasaptati*, or *Treatise on the Golden Seventy* (translated into Chinese by Paramārth in 6^th century CE); *Yukti-Dipika* by unknown author (around 6^th century CE); *Gaudapada-bhasya* (around 7^th to 8^th centruries CE); “*Mathara-vrtti*” (slightly later than *Gaudapada-bhasya*); and *Tattvakaumudi* by Vacaspati Misra (9^th century CE). The major text of the later Samkhya school is Samkhya-sutra, rumoured to be authored