Vaisheshika Sutra

Vaiśeṣika Sūtra, also called Kanada sutra, is an ancient Sanskrit text at the foundation of the Vaisheshika school of Hindu philosophy. The sutra was authored by the Hindu sage Kanada, also known as Kashyapa. According to some scholars, he flourished before the advent of Buddhism because the Vaiśeṣika Sūtra makes no mention of Buddhism or Buddhist doctrines; however, the details of Kanada's life are uncertain, and the Vaiśeṣika Sūtra was likely compiled sometime between 6th and 2nd century BCE, and finalized in the currently existing version before the start of the common era.

A number of scholars have commented on it since the beginning of common era; the earliest commentary known is the Padartha Dharma Sangraha of Prashastapada. Another important secondary work on Vaiśeṣika Sūtra is Maticandra's Dasha padartha sastra which exists both in Sanskrit and its Chinese translation in 648 CE by Yuan-chwang.

The Vaiśeṣika Sūtra is written in aphoristic sutras style, and presents its theories on the creation and existence of the universe using naturalistic atomism, applying logic and realism, and is one of the earliest known systematic realist ontology in human history. The text discusses the meaning of dharma, the importance of the Vedas, a theory of epistemology, the basis of Atman (self, soul), and the nature of yoga and moksha.

The name Vaiśeṣika Sūtra (Sanskrit: वैशेषिक सूत्र) is derived from Viśeṣa, which many medieval era scholars such as Gunaratna and modern scholars such as Karl Potter translate as "ultimate particularity". However, other scholars such as Udayana and Wilhelm Halbfass state that the contextual root Viśeṣa in this school refers to "pluralism and particularity, or more specifically to demarcation, characterization and differentiation".

Till the 1950s, only one manuscript of Vaiseshika sutra was known and this manuscript was part of a bhasya by the 15th century Sankaramisra. Scholars had doubted its authenticity, given the inconsistencies in this manuscript and the quotes in other Hindu, Jaina and Buddhist literature claiming to be from the Vaisheshika Sutra. In the 1950s and early 1960s, new manuscripts of Vaiśeṣika Sūtra were discovered in distant parts of India, which were later identified as this Sutra. These newer manuscripts are quite different, more consistent with the historical literature, and suggests that, like other major texts and scriptures of Hinduism, Vaiśeṣika Sūtra too suffered interpolations, errors in transmission and distortion over time. A critical edition of the Vaiśeṣika Sūtra is now available.

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