The six Darśanas — the philosophies
षड्दर्शन
Also written: six darshanas · shad darshana · indian philosophy schools · astika darshana · nyaya vaisheshika samkhya yoga mimamsa vedanta · षड्दर्शन
Darśana means 'a seeing' — a way of viewing the whole. There are six orthodox systems, and they are not six chapters of one doctrine. They are six rival philosophies with different metaphysics, different logics and different accounts of freedom, preserved side by side for two thousand years because the tradition regarded the disagreement itself as valuable.
| Darśana | Founder / root text | Central concern | Reality is | Liberation is |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nyāya | Gautama — Nyāya Sūtra | Logic and the means of valid knowledge | Plural, real, knowable | Cessation of suffering through true knowledge |
| Vaiśeṣika | Kaṇāda — Vaiśeṣika Sūtra | Categories of being; atomism | Made of eternal atoms in six or seven categories | The self freed from contact with body and mind |
| Sāṅkhya | Kapila — Sāṅkhya Kārikā | Enumeration of the principles of existence | Two: puruṣa (consciousness) and prakṛti (nature) | Kaivalya — the isolation of consciousness from nature |
| Yoga | Patañjali — Yoga Sūtra | The practical stilling of the mind | As in Sāṅkhya, plus Īśvara | Kaivalya, reached by the eight limbs |
| Pūrva Mīmāṁsā | Jaimini — Mīmāṁsā Sūtra | Dharma, and the authority of the Vedic injunction | Real, plural, eternal; the Veda is eternal | Originally heaven by right action; later, release |
| Uttara Mīmāṁsā (Vedānta) | Bādarāyaṇa — Brahma Sūtra | Brahman, the Self, and their relation | Brahman — variously non-dual, qualified, or dual | Knowledge of Brahman; forms vary by school |
What makes a darśana 'orthodox'
Āstika — usually translated 'orthodox' — means only that the school accepts the Veda as a valid means of knowledge. It does not mean belief in God. Sāṅkhya as classically stated has no creator; Pūrva Mīmāṁsā argues that a creator is unnecessary for its purposes; Vaiśeṣika's early form makes little use of one. All three remain āstika. The nāstika schools — Cārvāka, Buddhism and Jainism — are those that decline the Veda's authority, and they were engaged with in argument for two millennia rather than suppressed.
Nyāya
The science of reasoning: the sixteen categories, the five-membered syllogism, and the theory of valid knowledge that every other school had to answer.
Vaiśeṣika
Atomism and ontology: the categories of being, the indivisible paramāṇu, and the definition of dharma as what produces both prosperity and the highest good.
Sāṅkhya
The enumeration: puruṣa and prakṛti, the three guṇas, and the twenty-five tattvas from which everything unfolds.
Yoga
Patañjali's 196 sūtras: the stilling of the modifications of the mind, and the eight limbs by which it is done.
Pūrva Mīmāṁsā
The philosophy of dharma and of language: injunction, apūrva, and the eternality of the Vedic word.
Vedānta
The enquiry into Brahman: the prasthāna-traya, and the great schools that read it as non-dual, qualified, or dual.
In this section
Nyāya — the science of right reasoning
Gautama's logic: the four means of knowledge, the sixteen categories, the five-membered syllogism, and why every Indian philosophical debate is conducted in Nyāya's vocabulary.
Vaiśeṣika — atoms and the categories of being
Kaṇāda's system: the indivisible atom, the six (later seven) categories of what exists, and the definition of dharma the whole tradition quotes.
Sāṅkhya — the enumeration of the principles
Puruṣa and prakṛti, the three guṇas, and the twenty-five tattvas: the oldest systematic philosophy of India, and the framework almost every other school borrowed.
Yoga — Patañjali's system
The Yoga Sūtra: 196 aphorisms in four pādas, the definition of yoga, the five kleśas, the eight limbs, and the difference between Patañjali's yoga and what the word now means.
Pūrva Mīmāṁsā — the philosophy of dharma and of language
Jaimini's system: injunction as the heart of the Veda, apūrva, the eternality of the word, and the rules of interpretation that the whole tradition — including its legal system — still uses.
Vedānta — the enquiry into Brahman
Uttara Mīmāṁsā: the three foundations, the central question of the relation between Brahman, the self and the world, and the schools that answered it differently.
The schools of Vedānta
Advaita, Viśiṣṭādvaita, Dvaita, Dvaitādvaita, Śuddhādvaita and Acintya-bhedābheda — six readings of the same three texts, what each holds about the world and the soul, and the ācārya behind each.
Creation — as told by each of the six philosophies
Six systems, six different accounts of how the universe comes to be: atomic aggregation, the unfolding of prakṛti, the eternal Veda without a creator, Brahman appearing as the world, and the Ṛgveda's own refusal to settle it.
The nāstika schools — Cārvāka, Buddhism, Jainism
The three systems that decline the Veda's authority, what each holds, and why the orthodox tradition preserved their arguments at full strength instead of erasing them.
Nyāya — the science of right reasoning
Gautama's logic: the four means of knowledge, the sixteen categories, the five-membered syllogism, and why eve…
Vaiśeṣika — atoms and the categories of being
Kaṇāda's system: the indivisible atom, the six (later seven) categories of what exists, and the definition of …
Sāṅkhya — the enumeration of the principles
Puruṣa and prakṛti, the three guṇas, and the twenty-five tattvas: the oldest systematic philosophy of India, a…
Yoga — Patañjali's system
The Yoga Sūtra: 196 aphorisms in four pādas, the definition of yoga, the five kleśas, the eight limbs, and the…
Pūrva Mīmāṁsā — the philosophy of dharma and of language
Jaimini's system: injunction as the heart of the Veda, apūrva, the eternality of the word, and the rules of in…
Vedānta — the enquiry into Brahman
Uttara Mīmāṁsā: the three foundations, the central question of the relation between Brahman, the self and the …
Last revised 2026-08-16. Corrections are welcome — see how this site is written.