Abstract
The question as to whether the Vedas have an author is the topic of vivid polemics in Indian philosophy. The aim of this paper is to reconstruct the classical Sāṁkhya view on the authorship of the Vedas. The research is based chiefly on the commentaries to the Sāṁkhyakārikā definition of authoritative verbal testimony given by the classical Sāṁkhya writers, for these fragments provide the main evidence (both direct and indirect) for the reconstruction of this view. The textual analysis presented in this paper leads to the following conclusion. According to most classical Sāṁkhya commentaries, the Vedas have no author. Two commentators state directly that the Vedas have no author, and four commentators allude to the authorlessness of the Vedas. Only one commentator seems to hold the opposite view, stating that all the authoritative utterances are based on perception or inference of imperceptible objects by authoritative persons, from which it follows that the Vedas too have an author or authors.
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References and Abbreviations
Sāṁkhya Texts and Abbreviations
GB. Sāṁkhyakārikābhāṣya, or Gauḍapādabhāṣya = The Sāṅkhya Kārikā with an Exposition Called Candrikā by Nārāyaṇa Tīrtha, and Gauḍapādācārya’s Commentary (1883). Edited by Becanarāma Tripāṭhī. Benares: Messrs. Braj B. Das & Co. (Benares Sanskrit Series. No. 9.).
JM. Jayamaṅgalā = Sāṁkhyakārikā of Śrīmad Īśvarakṛṣṇa with the Māṭharavṛtti of Māṭharācārya and the Jayamaṅgalā of Śrī Śaṅkara (1970). Edited by Viṣṇuprasāda Śarmā [MV] and Satkāriśarmā Vaṅgīya [JM]. Varanasi: Chowkhamba Sanskrit Series Office. (Chowkhamba Sanskrit Series. No. 56.)
MV. Māṭharavṛttisee above JM. Jayamaṅgalā.
P. The Commentary translated into Chinese by Paramārtha = (1) La Sāṁkhyakārikā étudiée à la lumière de sa version chinoise (II). Traité sur les «Septante d’or» (Suvarṇasaptati) ou Traité sur la philosophie Sāṁkhya (Sāṁkhyaśāstra) traduit par Paramārtha (1904). Traduit de chinois par Junjiro Takakusu. Bulletin de l’Ecole Française d’Extrême-Orient 4, 978-1064. (2) Suvarṇasaptati Śāstra. Sāṅkhya-Kārikā-Saptati of Īśvara-Kṛṣṇa with a Commentary (1944). Reconstructed into Sanskrit from the Chinese Translation of Paramārtha and Edited with English Notes, Introduction and Appendices by N. Aiyaswami Sastri. Tirupati: Tirümalai-Tirupati Devasthanams Press. (Sri Venkatesvara Oriental Series 7.) (3) The Sāṁkhya Kārikā Studied in the Light of Its Chinese Version (1932, 1933). Translated [from the French translation of Takakusu] by S.S. Suryanarayanan [known also as S.S. Suryanarayana Sastri]. Journal of the Madras University 4(Supplement); 5, 81-114.
Sāṁkhyasūtras and Sāṁkhyasūtravṛtti = Aniruddha’s Commentary and the Original Parts of the Vedāntin Mahādeva’s Commentary to the Sāṁkhya Sūtras (1888). Edited with Indices by R. Garbe. Calcutta: Asiatic Society of Bengal.
SK. Sāṁkhyakārikā = Īśvarakṛṣṇa: Sāṁkhyakārikā (1998). Edited by Ferenc Ruzsa. http://gretil.sub.uni-goettingen.de/gretil/1_sanskr/6_sastra/3_phil/samkhya/isvskaru.htm. Accessed 5 December 2011.
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YD. Yuktidīpikā = Yuktidīpikā. The Most Significant Commentary on the Sāṁkhyakārikā (1998). Critically edited by Albrecht Wezler and Shujun Motegi (Vol. I). Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag (Alt- und Neu-Indische Studien 44.)
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Lutsyshyna, O. Classical Sāṁkhya on the Authorship of the Vedas. J Indian Philos 40, 453–467 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10781-012-9161-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10781-012-9161-4