________________
Samkhya Ideas in Pre-Isvarakṛṣṇa Literature
and the three kinds of Individuation viz. Vaikārika, Taijasa and Tamasa I that were so far omitted in the accounts of the Samkhya categories. However these Samkhya ideas are given a mould which would be consistent with the view of the sectarian schools, like the Bhāgavata, Pasupata etc. That is why in all the accounts we find a God postulated as the Creator and ten Devas as the presiding deities of the ten senses22. The personification of the three Gunas as Brahma, Vişņu and Śiva in the Matsya Purāṇa also points to the same things. This way of looking at trinity, it may be noted, became a popular dogma as can be seen from the mangala verse of Kadambarî.24
-
CARAKA (78 A.D.)25
Just as we drew upon grammatical works for understanding the history of Samkhya doctrine, similarly we may draw upon the medical work viz. the Caraka26. This work, gives an elaborate account of the twenty-four categories of the Samkhya27. It enumerates not only the twenty-four categories of the Samkhya but also states the order of evolution, which is the same as the one found in the classical Samkhya (st. 63, 64, 66). The twenty-four categories are, Avyakta, Buddhi, Individuation, five gross Elements, (these eight are 'bhūtaprakṛti') the five organs of
29'
22 Visnupuraṇa, I.2. 19-57. All the other Puranas give more or less similar account of creation.
23 गुणेभ्यः क्षोभमाणेभ्यस्त्रयो देवा विजज्ञिरे ।
एका मूर्तिस्त्रयो देवा ब्रह्मविष्णुमहेश्वराः ।
( एका मूर्तिस्त्रयो भागा ) Matsya P.I.3.16
24 रजेाजुष' जन्मनि सत्त्ववृत्तये स्थितौ प्रजानां प्रलये तमः स्पृशे । अजाय सर्गस्थितिनाशहेतवे त्रयीमयाय त्रिगुणात्मने नमः ॥२॥
25 'History of Indian Philosophy, Das Gupta, Vol. I, p. 212. 26 This work is generally not dealt with in the study of the Samkhya.
Attention to it was drawn by Prof. Das Gupta in his 'History of Indian Philosoyhy', Vol. I, p. 213.
27 Katidhapuruşiya Prakaraṇa, Carakasaṁhitā, p. 287. ff.