Philosophy › Hellenistic, Roman & Han thought
The classical Indian schools (darshanas)
c. 200 BC – AD 500 (core texts)· School or movement· Asian traditions
DebatedScholars disagree about what happened, what it means, or who said it.
The main systems of classical Indian philosophy: six that accept the Vedas' authority and several, including Buddhism, that reject it.
See it on the Philosophy map →The idea
Darshana (darśana) means 'view'. The six orthodox (astika) schools accept the Vedas: Nyaya (logic), Vaisheshika (atoms and categories), Samkhya (spirit versus matter), Yoga (mental discipline), Mimamsa (ritual and dharma, duty) and Vedanta (the Upanishads' teaching on self and reality). The heterodox (nastika) schools reject them: Buddhism, Jainism and the materialist Charvaka. Most share a goal, moksha, liberation from the cycle of rebirth driven by karma, and argue hard about the self and valid sources of knowledge.
Why it matters
They form one of the world's great traditions of logic, metaphysics and debate, and still shape Hindu, Buddhist and Jain religious life and modern yoga.
Where it comes from
Each school has a founding sutra text, such as the Nyaya Sutras or Yoga Sutras, followed by centuries of commentaries; most dates are estimates.
Still debated
Dating the sutras is hard, and many scholars see the neat 'six schools' list as a later medieval classification of a looser, overlapping debate.
Inside this (3)
Connections (2)
▸The Upanishads grounded the orthodox branch of The classical Indian schools (darshanas)Mostly agreed
The connection
The Upanishads' central claims, that the inner self (atman) is one with ultimate reality (Brahman) and that knowledge brings liberation (moksha), became reference points that the orthodox schools interpreted in different ways. Vedanta systematized them directly; Samkhya and Yoga drew on texts like the Katha Upanishad; Buddhists and Jains defined themselves partly by rejecting their authority.
When and how
India, about 200 BC to AD 500, as authors compiled sutras such as Badarayana's Brahma Sutras, which condense Upanishadic teaching into short aphorisms.
How sure are we?
The Brahma Sutras constantly interpret Upanishad passages, and the orthodox schools are defined by accepting the Vedas, whose final part is the Upanishads.
Debates and open questions
How far Samkhya and Yoga grew from the Upanishads, rather than from older, separate ascetic traditions, is debated, as are most dates.
▸Adi Shankara and Advaita Vedanta became the most famous voice of The classical Indian schools (darshanas)Mostly agreed
The connection
Of the six orthodox schools, Vedanta became the most influential, and Advaita its best-known form. Shankara's arguments against Buddhists, Mimamsa ritualists and Samkhya dualists made his non-dualism the standard image of Indian philosophy, especially after 19th-century reformers presented it to the West.
When and how
India, 8th century onward; worldwide prominence after Swami Vivekananda's speeches at Chicago's Parliament of Religions in 1893.
How sure are we?
Monasteries founded in his name still operate, and Advaita dominated colonial-era and modern presentations of Hindu thought.
Debates and open questions
Historians argue that the image of Advaita as 'the' Hindu philosophy owes much to colonial and modern reformers and sidelines other influential schools.