History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c94.6

v7.c94.6

It would not be irrelevant to say a few words about the origin and development of the Sānkhya system. This (rise of Sānkhya) is one of the most difficult problems in Indian philosophy. A good many works and papers have been written on the Sānkhya system.²¹⁰⁹ As to what the original Sānkhya teaching revised in the Sānkhyakārikā of Īśvarakṛṣṇa was, no generally accepted answer can be given. From the 5th century A. D at least the Sānkhyakārikā of Īśvarakṛṣṇa has been regarded as the foremost exponent of the Sānkhya. The Sānkhyakārikā and a commentary on it were translated into Chinese about 546 A D by Paramārtha, originally a brāhmaṇa of Bhāradvāja gotra and a śramaṇa from Ujjayinī (vide *BEFEO*, 1904, p 60). Śaṅkarācārya on V. S I. 4. 11 quotes the whole of the 3rd verse of the Sānkhyakārikā and the first quarter of it on V. S. I 4. 8. But the Sānkhya system, it appears, went through several phases. Chinese sources say that there were eighteen Sānkhya schools (p 2 of Johnston's "Early Sānkhya," quoting Takakusu in *BEFEO*, 1904, p. 58).