Isvara Krishna (

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

: ईश्वर कृष्णः,

IAST The International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration (IAST) is a transliteration scheme that allows the lossless romanisation of Indic scripts as employed by Sanskrit and related Indic languages. It is based on a scheme that emerged during ...

: Īśvara Kṛṣṇa, ) (fl. 350 CE) was an Indian philosopher and sage. He was the author of ''

Samkhyakarika The Samkhyakarika ( sa, सांख्यकारिका, ) is the earliest surviving text of the Samkhya school of Indian philosophy.Gerald James Larson (1998), Classical Sāṃkhya: An Interpretation of Its History and Meaning, Motilal Banar ...

'' (“Verses on Samkhya”), an account of the universe and its components (

tattva According to various Indian schools of philosophy, ''tattvas'' () are the elements or aspects of reality that constitute human experience. In some traditions, they are conceived as an aspect of deity. Although the number of ''tattvas'' varies ...

s) according to the

Samkhya ''Samkhya'' or ''Sankya'' (; Sanskrit सांख्य), IAST: ') is a Dualism (Indian philosophy), dualistic Āstika and nāstika, school of Indian philosophy. It views reality as composed of two independent principles, ''purusha, puruṣa' ...

school, one of the six schools of Hindu philosophy. ''Samkhyakarika'' is the earliest surviving authoritative text on classical Samkhya philosophy. Isvara Krishna in ''Kārikā'' describes himself as laying down the essential teachings of

Kapila Kapila ( sa, कपिल), also referred to as Cakradhanus, is a sage in Hindu tradition. According to Bhagavata Purana, he is the son of the sage Kardama and Devahuti, the daughter of the Svayambhuva Manu. Kardama had nine daughters, who wer ...

as taught to ''Āsuri'' and by ''Āsuri'' to Pañcaśikha to himself. ''Samkhyakarika'' includes distilled statements on epistemology, metaphysics and soteriology of the Samkhya school. The text also refers to an earlier work of Samkhya philosophy called Ṣaṣṭitantra (science of sixty topics) which is now lost. The text was imported and translated into Chinese about the middle of the 6th century CE. The records of

Al Biruni Abu Rayhan Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Biruni (973 – after 1050) commonly known as al-Biruni, was a Khwarazmian Iranian in scholar and polymath during the Islamic Golden Age. He has been called variously the "founder of Indology", "Father of Co ...

, the Persian visitor to India in the early 11th century, suggests Samkhyakarika was an established and definitive text in India in his times. Samkhya philosophy is said to have inspired some early

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

schools, and versions of the Samkhya system are still used in many schools of Buddhism and

Jainism Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religions, Indian religion. Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and history through the succession of twenty-four tirthankaras (supreme preachers of ''Dharma''), with the first in the current ...

.GJ Larson, RS Bhattacharya and K Potter (2014), The Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies, Volume 4, Princeton University Press, , pages 6-7, 74-88, 113-122, 315-318 Samkhya is also the basis for the

Yoga Yoga (; sa, योग, lit=yoke' or 'union ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India and aim to control (yoke) and still the mind, recognizing a detached witness-consciou ...

school. Different versions of this system are also used in

Vaishnavism Vaishnavism ( sa, वैष्णवसम्प्रदायः, Vaiṣṇavasampradāyaḥ) is one of the major Hindu denominations along with Shaivism, Shaktism, and Smartism. It is also called Vishnuism since it considers Vishnu as the ...

and Saivism.

References

Indian philosophy Metaphysicians Samkhya Āstika {{India-philosopher-stub