The Samkhya System: A History of the Samkhya Philosophy c7.27

c7.27

name of an actual teacher of high rank in the Sāmkhya-Yoga school, but simply ascribes to him doctrines at random, indifferent to their inner consistency and still more to their consistency with the views which were actually held by the teacher in question. In the latter case the question arises whether Pañcaśikha can be dated early enough to render plausible his appearance in the epic, which was practically complete by 500 A.D. even as regards the philosophic portions, and which probably contained these sections much earlier than that.