Darshana #2 of 6 · c. 6th–2nd century BCE
वैशेषिक
Vaisheshika Darshana
Vaiśeṣika
Founder: Maharshi Kanada (Uluka)
Root text: Vaisheshika Sutras (वैशेषिकसूत्र)
Central thesis
Reality is built from indivisible atoms (paramanu) grouped into six (later seven) ontological categories. Knowing what truly exists, and what merely appears, dissolves suffering.
Summary
Vaisheshika — the "school of particularity" — is the oldest systematic Indian atomism, predating Greek atomism in surviving textual form. Kanada's sutras enumerate everything that exists under six padarthas: substance (dravya), quality (guna), action (karma), universal (samanya), particular (vishesha), and inherence (samavaya). A seventh, non-existence (abhava), was added later. Of the nine substances — earth, water, fire, air, ether, time, space, self, mind — the first four are reducible to eternal atoms. Liberation is gained when the self knows itself as utterly distinct from these material atoms and from the qualities that arise in them. Vaisheshika and Nyaya fused into a single Nyaya-Vaisheshika tradition by the medieval period.
Key concepts
- ●Paramanu (indivisible atom) as the irreducible unit of matter
- ●Six (then seven) padarthas — substance, quality, action, universal, particular, inherence, non-existence
- ●Nine eternal substances — five elements + time, space, self, mind
- ●Adrishta (unseen moral force) governing atomic combination
- ●Samavaya (inherence) as the relation between whole and parts
Accepted pramanas
Means of valid knowledge
- · Pratyaksha (perception)
- · Anumana (inference)
Liberation path
Nihsreyasa — by tattva-jnana of the six padarthas, the self disjoins from all qualities and actions and abides in its own nature, free from rebirth.
Key texts
- · Vaisheshika Sutras of Kanada
- · Prashastapada Bhashya
- · Tarka Sangraha of Annambhatta
Modern relevance
Vaisheshika atomism is studied today in the history of science as the earliest preserved systematic atomic theory. Its category-system gave classical India its working vocabulary for physics, chemistry, and natural philosophy.