Amrita Collected Papers by A M Ghatage

SR No.: 006968
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Jitendra B Shah
Publisher: Kasturbhai Lalbhai Smarak Nidhi Ahmedabad
Total Pages: 530
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 10 MB

Page 251

Kundakunda and his Philosophy
In spite of the rich mine of thought found in the history of Indian philosophy, there are very few outstanding personalities which contributed to its development. This lack of philosophers, in spite of the great number of philosophical schools and systems, is no doubt the result of the Indian mind to concentrate on the thought itself more than on the thinker, and to care more for the books than their writers. The lack of historical material and the consequent vagueness about the personal lives of a few great names that have survived, is also responsible for this to a certain extent. But the fact remains that in comparison with the histories of thought of other nations, both ancient and modern, India presents a curious spectacle in which we find philosophy mainly developed in schools and systems, and not in a rapid succession of great personalities and their individual opinions.
But even when the general condition of the Indian philosophy is of this nature, we do have a few great names that can stand comparison with any philosopher of the western nations. Such a person is Sankara whose personality has influenced an existing system of philosophy to such an extent as to give it a distinct personal colour. Such were also the two great outstanding personalities. Mahāvīra and Buddha whose personal opinions can be gathered to a certain extent, even though they are now found mingled with later developments. And it is certainly a very interesting and also an instructive study to collect and arrange material to illuminate such other personalities that lie buried in the history of Indian philosophy.
To such an end the difficulties are obvious. It has become a common place of observation to say that India gives us nothing as regards the personal and private life of her heroes, and this is a great draw-back in our study of the individual philosophers. Similarly the Indian thinkers themselves cared more for the net result of their philosophical thought and less for the method by which the result was obtained. Thus a thinker, when he finds some of his