India, Philosophies of

Saranindranath Tagore

The content of Indian philosophy signifies the unbroken philosophical lineage beginning with the Rig Veda (ca. 2000 BCE), flagging one of the oldest continuing philosophical traditions in the history of global culture. This entry summarizes the basic orientations of some of the textual and conceptual regions selected from this vast philosophical history, paying special attention, whenever appropriate, to the anthropological trope of the human person. The four Vedas, composed by anonymous poets ( rishis , or seers) in the context of an oral tradition in the classical Indic language of Sanskrit, collectively constitute the ur texts of Indian civilization in general and Indian philosophical and religious traditions in particular . The four Vedas are called the Rig Veda, the Atharva Veda, the Sama Veda, and the Yajur Veda. The Rig Veda is relatively more important for the later development of the Indian philosophical traditions. The Rig Vedic text, expressed in ...

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