Samkhya thoughts in the Mahabharata
by Shini M.V. | 2017 | 51,373 words
This page relates ‘Introduction to Itihasa’ of the study of Samkhya thought and philosophy as reflected in the Shanti-Parva of the Mahabharata. Samkhya represents one of the six orthodox schools of Indian Philosophy and primarily deals with metaphysical knowledge and explains the Universe without the need to introduce God. The Mahabharata is an ancient Sanskrit epic which includes many Sankhya theories while expounding twenty-five principles.
Introduction to Itihāsa
In Sanskrit, ‘Itihāsa’ means history. For Hindus an Itihāsa is a religious story that tells about what happened in the past. Itihāsa are usually epic poems. The three most important Itihāsas of Hindus are the Rāmāyaṇa, theMbh. and the Bhagavadgīta. ‘Itihāsa’, the word means current history.
Kalhaṇa in Rājataraṅgini says that
dharmārthaṃkāmamokṣāṇāmupadeśasamanvitam |
purāvṛttaṃkathāyuktamitihāsaṃpracakṣate ||
In the Bṛhadāraṇyakopaniṣad Yāñjavalkya says that ‘Itihāsa and Purāṇa are among those subjects which were created by God himself’[1]. In the Chāndogyopaniṣad and Adharva Veda describe Itihāsa Iti-ha-asa meant ‘it happened recently’. Rāmāyaṇa and Mahābhārata are the two renowned epics of India. The Mahābhārata is the longer of the two. There are more characters in it and the story too is more complicated.
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
Bṛhadāraṇyakopaniṣad, 2.4.10.