Question

Who among the following wrote the basic text of Vaisheshika philosophy?
1. Patanjali
2. Jaimini
3. Kanada
4. Shankaracharya

Answer 1

Correct Answer - Option 3 : Kanada

The correct answer is Kanada.

• Vaisheshika is one of the six systems (darshans) of Indian philosophy, significant for its naturalism, a feature that is not characteristic of most Indian thought.
  • The Sanskrit philosopher Kanada Kashyapa (2nd–3rd century CE) expounded its theories and is credited with founding the school. 
  • Important later commentaries were written by Prashastapada, Udayanacharya, and Shridhara.
  • After a period of independence, the Vaisheshika school fused entirely with the Nyaya school, a process that was completed in the 11th century.
  • Thereafter the combined school was referred to as Nyaya-Vaisheshika.
  • The Vaisheshika school attempts to identify, inventory, and classify the entities and their relations that present themselves to human perceptions.
  • The Vaisheshika system holds that the smallest, indivisible, indestructible part of the world is an atom (Anu).
  • All physical things are a combination of the atoms of earth, water, fire, and air.
  • Inactive and motionless in themselves, the atoms are put into motion by God’s will, through the unseen forces of moral merit and demerit.

• Jaimini was an ancient Indian scholar who founded the Mīmāṃsā school of Hindu philosophy.
  • He rendered Mimamsa Sutras and Jaimini Sutras.
• Patanjali is also called Gonardiya, or Gonikaputra.
  • He flourished 2nd century BCE or 5th century CE.
  • He is the author or one of the authors of two great Hindu classics: the first, Yoga-sutras, a categorization of Yogic thought arranged in four volumes and the second, the Mahabhashya
• Adi Shankaracharya was an Indian philosopher and theologian whose works had a strong impact on the doctrine of Advaita Vedanta.