We cannot isolate philosophy from the history of the land. Society and culture form the soil from which thoughts germinate to become trees of wisdom over time. And when the soil remains fertile over centuries, the trees give rise to forests, and the forests give back to the land and its people. Such is the life of philosophy; such is the philosophy of life.
The Indian subcontinent, rich with its cultural diversity, has seen a range of philosophies that enriched people with knowledge and spirituality. It doesn’t matter if you’re a rationalist or an empiricist, pragmatist or a seeker; everybody finds a home in the various schools of Indian philosophy.
The Visualisation
We take a pause from long philosophical posts to visually map the terrain of Indian philosophy. The large visualization accompanying this short article shows a timeline of key Indian philosophers between 1000 BCE (Before Common Era) to 1500 CE (Common Era). It’s recommended to view it on a large screen for better readability and comparative analysis.
The visualization has eight columns, one for each philosophical school, with every column having philosophers from different periods. The timeline is color-coded — each color corresponding to an important historical period. You can also view the basic historical details in the leftmost column. While the historicity of philosophers is generally agreed upon, there’s no definite consensus amongst historians and epigraphers on the time-span of these personalities. The dates get fuzzier as we move back from the medieval period to Before Common Era (BCE). Hence, I’ve consulted numerous history and philosophy books to arrive at somewhat agreeable dates for the lifetime of philosophers. 1 I would also like to add that the visualization does not cover all the known philosophers. The list covers the philosophers frequently mentioned in “Classical Indian Philosophy”.
Some observations from the visualization:
Buddhist philosophy flourished in the golden age of India. Several notable Buddhists, including Vasubandhu, Dignāga, and Dharmakīrti, expounded their philosophies at Nālandā in this era. Jainism also saw many important philosophers in this period.
We see the decline of Buddhism towards the end of the early medieval period. The change in socio-political environment and multiple invasions reduced Buddhism to a minority in the land of its origin.
The early medieval period saw the re-emergence of Nyāya and the rise of Vedānta. Adi Shankaracharya firmly established Vedānta through extensive writing, philosophical debates, and dedicated monasteries. One also cannot fail to notice the immense impact of Vācaspati Miśra, a polymath from Mithila, in this period. He contributed to almost every school of philosophy with his detailed writings.
We find the great contemporaries, Buddha and Mahavira, in the Axial age that ran from about the 8th to the 3rd century BCE. According to Karl Jaspers,
“In Axial age, the spiritual foundations of humanity were laid simultaneously and independently in China, India, Persia, Judea, and Greece. And these are the foundations upon which humanity still subsists today”.Yoga philosophy did receive multiple contributions from philosophers of different schools. However, these contributions were mostly commentaries rather than dedicated texts. Hence, you’ll not see many philosophers in the Yoga column apart from Patañjali and Vācaspati Miśra
The above also holds for Lokāyata.
With the decline of Sanskrit in the medieval period, the originality in Indian philosophy waned rapidly. It took a further setback with two hundred years of colonial rule.
But the forest of knowledge and wisdom remains. With a renewed interest in Sanskrit and Indian philosophy, it’s waiting to be rediscovered by the inquisitive and the seeker. But there’s a point worth mentioning here — Neither do we need to romanticize the past, nor do we have to dismiss it as useless musings of the mind. Knowledge is pure joy. The act of knowing itself is worth living on this planet. So as we move further into the vast landscape of Indian philosophy, remember that not everything is for utility. There’s nothing more satisfying than quenching the thirst of an inquisitive mind.
Classical Indian Philosophy - Adamson and Ganeri, Indian Philosophy Vol 1 and 2 by Radhakrishnan, A History of Indian Philosophy - S. Dasgupta, A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India - Singh, Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies - Karl Potter