The word "Sankhya" has multiple interpretations. One interpretation suggests adding the suffix "Anu" to "Sankhya," deriving the word number from the root "Samachaksh" meaning "metal" and "Khyaan Darshan"am suffix "Taap." According to this interpretation, Sankhya means "right fame," "sage philosophy," or "true knowledge."
This "rightful fame" of the Sankhyacharyas lies in separating the Purusha form of the Chit element from the manifest form of the dual Achit element. Despite superficially appearing involved in the world, man actually remains untouched by it. This biggest philosophical discovery of Sankhyacharyas is expressed in their own words under names like Satvapurushanyatyakhyati, Vivek khayati, Vyaktyavyaktajvigyan, etc. It is through this wisdom and knowledge that the ultimate endeavor or goal of human life is considered to be accomplished.
Another interpretation suggests "Sankhya" derives from the word "Sankhya" meaning "calculation." This aligns with a verse in the Mahabharata related to Sankhya: "Samnam Prakurvate Chaiva Prakritin Cha Prachakshate. Tattvaani cha chatuvinshad ten sankhya: prakirtita:" . This translates to: "Those who preach the number, the wisdom knowledge of nature and man, who render the effect of nature and who determine the number of elements as twenty-four, are called Sankhya."
Sridhar Swami's commentary on Bhagavata states that (3-25-1), which states that Kapil composed the Sankhya Shastra. "Sankhya-Pravartaka" means "originator or pioneer of Sankhya." some commentators interpret "Sankhya" in "Sankhya-Pravartaka" as a calculation-based word, but argues its meaning is "elemental knowledge."
Sankhya seems to be the first attempt at a detailed analysis of the visible physical world. This resulted in the determination of twenty-four elements, with "Prakriti" or "Pradhan" being the root of the remaining twenty-three. This determination suggests a great intellectual effort by the Sankhyas.
The name "Sankhya" suggests that Sankhya philosophy is rational and logical. While the basic elements (Achit Prakriti and Chit Purusha) are considered proven by Agama or Shruti, they are mainly proven based on inference. Both fundamental elements of Sankhya - Prakriti and Purusha - are explained through inference based on reasons of existence in the available Sankhya texts (Sankhya Pravachan Sutra and Sankhyakarika). Arguments are provided for the multiplicity of men and the theory of good deeds.
Sankhya's emphasis on logic and rationalism led to some principles developing independently from the Vedic sect. This caused Acharyas like Badarayana Vyas and Shankaracharya to refute it as non-Vedic. However, the origins of Sankhya don't seem entirely non-Vedic.
Among the six types of Indian philosophy, Sankhya is one which was very popular and prevalent in ancient times. This is a philosophy having beliefs completely opposite to Advaita Vedanta. The original person who founded it is called Kapil. The literal meaning of 'Sankhya' is - 'related to numbers' or analysis. Its most important belief is that the universe is made up of nature and man, here nature (made up of the five elements) is inert and man (ie the soul) is conscious. The energy source (Ida-Pingala) of Yoga scriptures, the principles of Shiva-Shakti of Shaktas appear parallel to this.
At one time, the place of Sankhya philosophy was very high in Indian culture. The noble minds of the country used to think with the thought process of Sankhya. The author of Mahabharata has even said that whatever knowledge is there in this world has come from Sankhya. (Gyanam ca loke yadhihasti kincit saṅkhyagatam taccha mahanmahatman (Shanti Parva 301.109)). In fact, Sankhyashastra has an important place in the background of philosophical thoughts in Mahabharata. At many places in Shanti Parv, the ideas of Sankhya philosophy have been mentioned in a very poetic and interesting manner. The influence of Sankhya philosophy is quite present on the philosophical background propounded in Geeta.
One reason for its popularity has definitely been that this philosophy resolved the contradictions seen in life in a very beautiful way by establishing the triple nature as the cause of everything. The great quality of this nature-causal theory of Sankhyacharyas is that the solution to the disparity of the world on the basis of Sat, Rajas and Tamas elements of different religions seems very intelligent. By not considering any worldly problem as the law of God, the imbalance of these natures and the lack of effort of the living beings have been cited as the reason. That is, the biggest greatness of Sankhya philosophy is that the creation of the universe is not believed to be by God, but it is understood as an evolutionary process and it is believed that the universe has attained its present form after passing through many phases. Many consider Kapilacharya to be an atheist, but this belief has been denied in texts like Bhagavad Gita and Satyarth Prakash.
Only two original texts of Sankhya philosophy are available today:
Apart from these, a smaller Sutra Granth called "Tattva Samas" also exists. The rest of the Sankhya literature consists primarily of commentaries and sub-commentaries on these three texts.
While Kapil Muni is traditionally considered the preacher of Sankhya Sutras, scholars generally do not attribute the available Sankhya-Pravachan-Sutras directly to him. Even if these Sutras are considered to be preached by Kapil, many parts are likely to have been interpolated based on internal evidence within the Sutras themselves.
Ishwarkrishna, the author of Sankhyakarika, is believed to have lived in the middle of the third century BC, though some scholars suggest an even earlier date.
Although no book is explicitly mentioned by Kapil's disciple Asuri, the works of Acharya Panchshikh, another famous disciple, are quoted in Vyas's Yogabhashya and other ancient texts. This suggests that a sutra text written by Panchshikh was prominent in ancient times. Many scholars believe this famous text was the "Shashthi Tantra."
Udayveer Shastri suggests that the available Shatdhyayi Sankhya-Pravachan-Sutra was also known as "Shashthi Tantra" due to its description of sixty things. He proposes that Panchshikhacharya might have written a commentary on this text, which was also called "Shashthi Tantra" after the original text.
Some scholars attribute "Shashthi Tantra" to the famous Sankhyacharya Varshaganya. However, limited information is available about many other ancient Sankhyacharyas like Jaigishdhya, Deval, and Asit.
Sankhya regards the visible world as nature-man-based. From his point of view, this Chidavidatma world cannot be satisfactorily explained on the basis of merely conscious or merely unconscious matter. That is why, like the materialist philosophies like Laukayatika, Sankhya does not consider only the root matter and unlike many Vedanta sects, it does not consider only the symbolic Brahman or soul as the root of the universe. Rather, it considers the root nature of both the root and conscious forms found in life or the world to be the essence of these two elements, and the sign-matter man.
Root nature is the name of the equilibrium of the three qualities - Sattva, Rajas and Tamas. These qualities are transitory every moment according to the "bala ca gunavrttam" judgment. Thus, according to Sankhya, the whole world is the real result of the triple nature. Unlike Shankaracharya's Vedanta, Bhagavanmaya: is not a vivarta, that is, an untrue work or a false luxury. Thus, because it regards nature as unborn and eternal like man and the world as the real result of nature, Sankhya is in the true sense an externalist or objective philosophy. But the root external realism is meaningless or meaningless or useless in the absence of a conscious enjoyer because it is enjoyable, therefore Sankhya is a spiritual philosophy because it also believes in the conscious person or soul for its meaningfulness.
Even though it basically assumes two elements, Sankhya also assumes twenty-three avatar elements as a result of resulting nature. Tattva means 'true knowledge' According to it, from nature comes Mahat or intelligence, from it ego, Tamas, from ego the five-tanmatras (sound, touch, form, taste and smell) and from the sattvic ego eleven senses (five senses, five senses of action and ambivalent mind) and finally the five tanmatras From the five great beings named sky, air, tejas, water and earth respectively, thus twenty-three elements would arise respectively are. Thus, Sankhya philosophy considers 25 elements from the main distinctions. As indicated earlier, the oldest Sankhya must have considered God as the 26th element. Evidence of this is found in ancient literature like Mahabharata, Bhagavata etc. If this conjecture is true, Sankhya must be regarded as essentially a theistic philosophy. But later Sankhya gives no place to God. This is why in later literature it is referred to as an atheistic philosophy.
Sankhya philosophy, a prominent school of Indian thought, posits a dualistic worldview, recognizing two fundamental realities: Purusha (consciousness) and Prakriti (matter). While Purusha is eternal, unchanging, and indifferent, Prakriti is dynamic and the source of all material phenomena.
Sankhya outlines the evolutionary process of the universe, describing it as an unfolding of Prakriti through a series of 25 tattvas (elements). These tattvas, emerging from the interplay of the three gunas (Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas) within Prakriti, constitute the entire material reality.
