Abstract

BHATTACHARYA, Ramkrishna. Dharmaśāstra vis-à-vis Moksaśāstra: The Special Position of the Veda in the Philosophies in India. Rev. Guillermo Ockham [online]. 2018, vol.16, n.1, pp.9-20.  Epub July 21, 2021. ISSN 1794-192X.  https://doi.org/10.21500/22563202.3578.

The principal philosophical systems of India are divided into two branches: āstika and nāstika. This division, however, is basically religious, not philosophical or logical. Whatever might have been the original meanings of these two terms, so far as Indian philosophical literature is concerned, āstika means Veda-abiding and nāstika, non-Veda-abiding. This is an instance of the intrusion of Dharmaśāstra into Mokṣaśāstra: the rules of religious law operating on what was claimed to be the science of freedom (mokṣa/mukti). Thus, religious law had its position asserted and the materialists along with the Jains and the Buddhists were declared to be outside the Vedic fold.

Keywords : Āstika; Dharmaśāstra; Mokṣaśāstra; nāstika; Veda.

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