Vedic Origins of the Sāṅkhya Dialectic

The dominating section of Sankhya scholarship today is inclined to trace the orgins of the Sankhya to non-Vedic, ante-Vedic, and even anti- Vedic traditions. The present author proposes to strike a note of dessent in this paper. To us, the tendency is an index to the sad plight of Vedic studies at our bands and

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हर्ष नारायण उस प्रचलित मत का खण्डन करते हैं कि सांख्य का उद्गम अवैदिक अथवा वेदविरोधी है। सत्त्व, रजस् और तमस् इन तीन गुणों की द्वन्द्वात्मकता तक अपने को सीमित रखकर वे उसकी शब्दावली तथा त्रिकात्मक ढाँचे की जड़ें वैदिक एवं औपनिषदिक प्रयोगों में दिखाते हैं। Narain dissents from the prevailing view that Sankhya is non-Vedic or anti-Vedic in origin. Confining himself to the dialectic of the three gunas, sattva, rajas and tamas, he traces its terms and its triadic structure back into Vedic and Upanisadic usage, and blames the opposite reading on neglected Vedic scholarship.

Written by the archive’s cataloguers, not by the author.