Sāṅkhya (साङ्ख्य) Kārikā (कारिका)
Executive summary
The Sāṃkhya (सांख्य) Kārikā (कारिका) is seventy-two verses in the āryā (आर्या) meter, the book this school was learned from. Sāṅkhya (साङ्ख्य) means an enumeration of what is real. prakṛti (प्रकृति) is the unmanifest cause. puruṣa (पुरुष) is the seer, many, and not a doer. Whatever changes is prakṛti (प्रकृति) transformed. The verses fall into four groups: the two realities, the order of the world, the end of the show, and who passed the teaching on.
नेपालीमा
सांख्यकारिका आर्या छन्दका बहत्तर श्लोक हुन्। यही पुस्तकबाट यो दर्शन सिकियो। सांख्य भनेको जे वास्तविक छ त्यसको गणना हो। प्रकृति अव्यक्त कारण हो। पुरुष द्रष्टा हो, धेरै छन्, र कर्ता होइन। जे बदलिन्छ त्यो प्रकृतिको परिणाम हो। श्लोक चार समूहमा पर्छन्: दुई तत्त्व, संसारको क्रम, प्रदर्शनको अन्त्य, र उपदेश कसले दिए भन्ने कुरा।
The book of this school is not a sūtra (सूत्र). It is the Sāṃkhya-kārikā (सांख्य-कारिका) of Īśvarakṛṣṇa (ईश्वरकृष्ण), seventy-two verses in the āryā (आर्या) meter. A later book called the Sāṃkhya-sūtra (सांख्य-सूत्र) is attributed to Kapila. It is a medieval restatement. The school was learned, for centuries, from these verses. Gauḍapāda (गौडपाद)'s commentary and Vācaspati (वाचस्पति) Miśra (मिश्र)'s Tattva-kaumudī (तत्त्व-कौमुदी) are the companions. They are not the starting page.
Sāṅkhya (साङ्ख्य) means enumeration. The enumeration is of what is real: prakṛti (प्रकृति), the unmanifest cause, and puruṣa (पुरुष), the seer, who is many and who does nothing. Everything that changes is prakṛti (प्रकृति) transformed. The seer is not in that list.
The pair is Yoga. Patañjali (पतञ्जलि) takes this map and adds the work: stilling the mind, and offering the life to Īśvara (ईश्वर), whom Sāṅkhya (साङ्ख्य)'s verses do not require. Read kārikās (कारिकास्) 1–21 until puruṣa (पुरुष), prakṛti (प्रकृति), and the three guṇas (गुण) come without looking. The Yoga Sūtra (सूत्र)'s first sixteen lines are the other door into the same pair.
The text here is the received kārikā (कारिका), the one the commentaries explain. A few verses have small variants in the manuscripts. Where a variant would change the sense, the sitting says so.
The chart below is the twenty-five tattvas (तत्त्व) of verse 3, with the members named in verses 22–27 and 38.
The twenty-five tattvas (तत्त्व)
Verse 3 sorts everything real into four classes. One, one, seven, and sixteen are the twenty-five. The names of the seven and the sixteen are what verses 22–38 fill in. The links go to those verses.
| Class | Members | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | puruṣa (पुरुष). Neither produced nor producing. | The person, the seer. Verse 3. |
| 1 | prakṛti (प्रकृति), mūlaprakṛti (मूलप्रकृति). The unproduced producer. | Root nature. Verse 3 calls it avikṛti (अविकृति), unproduced. Verse 2's avyakta (अव्यक्त), the unmanifest, is this. Verse 3. |
| 7 | Evolutes and producers. Each is produced, and each produces. | buddhi (बुद्धि), also called mahat (महत्), the great one (verse 23). ahaṅkāra (अहङ्कार), the I-maker (verse 24). Five tanmātras (तन्मात्र), the subtle elements: śabda (शब्द), sound; sparśa (स्पर्श), touch; rūpa (रूप), form; rasa (रस), taste; gandha (गन्ध), smell. Verse 3 names the class. Verse 24 calls the five the tanmātra (तन्मात्र) pentad. Verse 38 calls them non-particulars. |
| 16 | Evolutes only. Produced, and they produce no further tattva (तत्त्व). | Five jñānendriyas (ज्ञानेन्द्रिय), senses of knowing (verse 26): cakṣus (चक्षुस्), eye; śrotra (श्रोत्र), ear; ghrāṇa (घ्राण), nose; rasana (रसन), tongue; tvac (त्वच्), skin. Five karmendriyas (कर्मेन्द्रिय), senses of action (verse 26): vāc (वाच्), speech; pāṇi (पाणि), hand; pāda (पाद), foot; pāyu (पायु), excretion; upastha (उपस्थ), generation. manas (मनस्), mind (verse 27). Five mahābhūtas (महाभूत), the gross elements (verse 22, verse 38): ākāśa (आकाश), vāyu (वायु), tejas (तेजस्), āpas (आपस्), pṛthivī (पृथिवी). Verse 38 calls them the five elements. These are the five that class is counted with. |
Verse 22 uses sixteen for a different cut: what comes straight from the I-maker, the eleven (mind and the ten senses) together with the five tanmātras (तन्मात्र). The five gross elements come from those five tanmātras (तन्मात्र), so they are the next step. Verse 3's sixteen are the products that produce nothing further: the same eleven, and the five gross elements in place of the five tanmātras (तन्मात्र). The tanmātras (तन्मात्र) stay in the seven.
72 of 72 lines are written out word by word.
Chapters
- Verses 1–21, the two realities21 of 21 written. Begin at 1
- Verses 22–55, the world34 of 34 written. Begin at 22
- Verses 56–68, the end13 of 13 written. Begin at 56
- Verses 69–72, who passed it on4 of 4 written. Begin at 69