The Greatness of India We often look at the progress made by India as a country from the vantage point of a western nation like the US and fail to appreciate the progress made by India since its independence. As India completes its 75th year as an independent country, here is me listing some key …
There are so many theories that try to figure out the origins of the dowry system in India. One theory states that it originated as concepts of Kanyadaan and Stree-Dhan, where the Hindu families donated something of value to their daughters. According to the traditions in the past, a daughter had no share in her …
Hindu Literature can be classified into two broad categories: Shruti & Smriti. This blog covers in detail the Smriti Literature. You can read about Shruti (Vedas) in the Hindu Literature: Shruti (Vedas) post. SMRITI Smriti means ‘that which is remembered’. Smiritis are human thoughts in response to the Shrutis and they are traditionally regarded to …
Hindu Literature can be classified into two broad categories: Shruti & Smruti. This blog covers in detail about the structure and types of Vedas. You can read about Smriti in the Hindu Literature: Smriti post. SHRUTI (VEDAS) Shruti, meaning ‘that which is heard’, refers to those ancient religious texts which did not have any particular author and which …
CĀRVĀKA (LOKAYATA) The Cārvāka school is one of the nāstika or “heterodox” philosophies . It rejects ritualism and supernaturalism, emphasizes materialism (matter is the fundamental substance in nature, and that all things, including mental states and consciousness, are results of material interactions) and philosophical skepticism, holding empiricism, perception and conditional inference as the proper source …
From the Jain point of view, Jain philosophy is eternal and has been taught numerous times in the remote past by the great enlightened tirthankaras(“ford-makers”). One of the main features of Jain philosophy is its dualistic metaphysics, which holds that there are two distinct categories of existence, the living, conscious or sentient being (jiva) and …
BUDDHISM The Buddhist path combines both philosophical reasoning and meditation. The Buddhist traditions present a multitude of Buddhist paths to liberation, and Buddhist thinkers in India and subsequently in East Asia have covered topics as varied as phenomenology, ethics, ontology, epistemology, logic and philosophy of time in their analysis of these paths. For the Indian …
Āstika SĀMKHYA The word samkhya means ‘empirical‘ or ‘relating to numbers’. It is the oldest of the orthodox philosophical systems in Hinduism, with origins in the 1st millennium BCE. It is a rationalist school (regards reason as the chief source and test of knowledge. The criterion of the truth is not sensory but intellectual and …
Indian Philosophy encompasses the philosophies, world views, and teachings of Hinduism and other religious sects that emerged in Ancient India. These include six systems – Sankhya, Yoga, Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Mimamsa and Vedanta. These are also called the Astika (theistic) philosophical traditions and are those that accept the Vedas as an authoritative, important source of knowledge.Ancient …
This is Part 4 (The Scientific Revolution) in the four-part series of book summary of Sapiens by Yuval. If you haven’t read Part 1 (The Cognitive Revolution), Part 2 (The Agricultural Revolution), Part 3 (The Unification of Humankind), please read them before reading this. The Scientific Revolution 14) The Discovery of Ignorance The last 500 years have witnessed …
