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CHAPTER III
A. The Sānkhya System
Having viewed, in the course of the two previous chapters, Advaitism and Buddhism, and found that the one upholds 'identity' and the other difference', we may endeavour, in the course of the present chapter, to examine a few systems of philosophy in which difference (bheda) is subordinated to identity (abheda). The systems which figure here, in the order of their treatment are: (A) The Sānkhya; (B) the Bhedābheda schools of (i) Bhartạprapañca, (ii) Bhāskara and Yādavaprakāśa, (iii) Nimbārka, and (iv) Rāmānuja; (C) Hegelianism, an important school of Western philosophy, is added to the above notable systems of Indian philosophy for the reason of its striking resemblance to, as well as divergence from, the Jaina view, in respect of some important dialectical features.
Without going into highly controversial and not directly relevant questions like how early' (before
1. According to R. Garbe the Sānkhya and the Yoga are "the two
oldest systems (of philosophy) which India has produced" (see his Intro. to the Bhagavadgitā, E. T., Ind. Ant., 1918, p. 14). Incidentally, in his estimation', the Sankhya is also "the most significant system of philosophy that India has produced". (See his Preface to Vijñānabhikṣu's Sānkhyapravacanabhāşya, p. XIV.) H. Jacobi points out Kautilya's references in the Artha
