{{unreferenced, date=June 2022
Kārikā (कारिका) is a
genre
Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...
of
Sanskrit literature
Sanskrit literature broadly comprises all literature in the Sanskrit language. This includes texts composed in the earliest attested descendant of the Proto-Indo-Aryan language known as Vedic Sanskrit, texts in Classical Sanskrit as well as s ...
. "Kārikā" also refers to any metrical verse or line which explains, in an aphoristic manner, some key idea (usually philosophical). There are
Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
and
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 ...
examples of the genre.
Some important Kārikās include:
*
Sāṁkhyakārikā, the earliest work of the Hindu
Sāṁkhya school of philosophy
*
Nāgārjuna
Nāgārjuna . 150 – c. 250 CE (disputed)was an Indian Mahāyāna Buddhist thinker, scholar-saint and philosopher. He is widely considered one of the most important Buddhist philosophers.Garfield, Jay L. (1995), ''The Fundamental Wisdom of ...
's ''
Mūlamadhyamakakārikā
The ''Mūlamadhyamakakārikā'' ( sa, मूलमध्यमककारिका, ''Root Verses on the Middle Way''), abbreviated as ''MMK'', is the foundational text of the Madhyamaka school of Mahāyāna Buddhist philosophy. It was compose ...
'' (''Root Verses on
Madhyamaka
Mādhyamaka ("middle way" or "centrism"; ; Tibetan: དབུ་མ་པ ; ''dbu ma pa''), otherwise known as Śūnyavāda ("the emptiness doctrine") and Niḥsvabhāvavāda ("the no ''svabhāva'' doctrine"), refers to a tradition of Buddhist ...
'')
*
Gaudapada's ''Māṇḍukya Kārikā'' (on the ''
Māṇḍukya Upanishad'')
*
Bhavaviveka's ''
Madhyamakahṛdayakārikā'' (''Verses on the Heart of Madhyamaka'')
* Kallata's ''
Spandakārikā,'' a
Kashmiri Shaiva work
* ''Īśvarapratyabhijñākārikā'' of
Utpaladeva
Utpaladeva (c. 900–950 CE) was an Indian philosopher and theologian from Kashmir. He belonged to the Trika Shaiva tradition and is the most important thinker of the Pratyabhijñā school of monistic idealism.Torella, Raffaele (2021), ''Utpala ...
Sanskrit