By all accounts, the great sage Kapila was the first to organize Samkhya thought in a systematic way. According to the Samkhya-Karika, the teaching originated with the Parama-Rsi, Kapila, was passed by him to Asuri, from Asuri to Panchasikha, and through tradition of disciples to Krsna. Beyond that, a few teachers are known. The best estimates date Kapila’s lifetime at around the sixth or seventh century B.C.E. The main body of his philosophy is contained in the Samkhya-Pravachana-Sutram.
Prior to Kapila’s time traces of Samkhya thought had appeared in some of the Vedic literature. Many authors cite the Upanishads, especially the Katha and Svetashvatara Upanishads. Some have stated that Samkhya concepts appear as far back as the Rig Veda, the most ancient of the Vedas.
Still others trace Samkhya thought to the pre-Aryan civilization that existed in India around 5000 years ago, at around the same time as similar civilizations in Egypt and Mesopotamia. If true, this is significant because it means that Samkhya is essentially non-Vedic in origin. It is generally accepted that Aryan invaders who conquered India around 1500 B.C.E. brought with them the complex system of beliefs, rituals, and nature worship known as the Vedic religion. The Samkhya thought that appears in the Vedic literature probably resulted from the assimilation of the pre-Aryan culture into the Vedic culture.
Following Kapila’s time, Samkhya thought found its way into the Bhagavad-Gita and the Srimad-Bhagavatam. These works are further examples of the assimilation of Samkhya into the Vedic religion, but with certain modifications that were necessary in order to make Samkhya conform with the dominant thinking of the time. Especially in the Srimad-Bhagavatam, certain statements attributed to Kapila are clearly at odds with the philosophy contained in the Samkhya-Pravachana-Sutram. These authors conferred the highest possible status on Rsi Kapila, yet apparently rejected the portions of his philosophy that did not conform to their pre-existing religious beliefs.
Another important work appearing some time after Kapila is the Samkhya-Karika attributed to Isvara Krsna. The Samkhya-Karika was the primary text used during the classical period of Samkhya, from around the first to the tenth century C.E. It essentially summarizes and explains many of the important concepts contained in the Samkhya-Pravachana-Sutram, but leaves out the controversies and fables. All of the commentaries written during the classical period used the Samkhya-Karika as their source.
The next major works were two commentaries on the Samkhya-Pravachana-Sutram. The commentary of Aniruddha dates from the fifteenth century C.E., and that of Vijnana-Bhiksu from the sixteenth. Nandalal Sinha’s translation of these commentaries, originally published in 1915, is undoubtedly the best source on the Samkhya philosophy that is available in English today.
