DARSANA `Demonstration.’ The Shad-darsanas or six demonstrations, i.e., the six schools of Hindu philosophy. All these schools have one starting-point, ex nihilo nihil fit; and all have one and the same final object, the emancipation of the soul from future birth and existence, and its absorption into the supreme soul of the universe. These schools are: -

1. Nyaya, founded by the sage Gotama. The word Nyaya means propriety or fitness, the proper method of arriving at a conclusion by analysis. This school has been called the Logical School, but the term is applicable to its method rather than to its aims. It is also said to represent “the sensational aspect of Hindu philosophy,” because it has “a more pointed regard to the fact of the five senses than the others have, and treats the external more frankly as a solid reality.” It is the exoteric school, as the Vedanta is the esoteric.

2. Vaiseshika, founded by a sage named Kanada, who lived about the same time as Gotama. It is supplementary to the Nyaya, and these two schools are classed together. It is called the Atomic School, because it teaches the existence of a transient world composed of aggregations of eternal atoms.

3. Sankhya. The Sankhya and Yoga are classed together because they have much in common, but the Sankhya is atheistical, while the Yoga is theistical. The Sankhya was founded by the sage Kapila, and takes its name from its numeral or discriminative tendencies. The Sankhya-Karika, the text-book of this school, has been translated by Celebrooke and Wilson, and part of the aphorisms of Kapila were translated for the Bibliotheca Indica by the late Dr. Ballantyne.

4. Yoga. This school was founded by Patanjali, and from his name is also called Patanjala. It pursues the method of the Sankhya and holds with many of its dogmas, but its asserts the existence not only of individual souls, but of one all-pervading spirit, which is free from the influences which affect other souls.

5. Purva-mimansa. 6. Uttara-mimansa. The prior and later Mimansas. These are both included in the general term Vedanta, but the Purva-mimansa is commonly known as the Mimansa and the Uttara-mimansa as the Vedanta, `the end or object of the Vedas.’ The Purva-mimansa is commonly known as the Mimansa and the Uttara-mimansa is attributed to Vyasa, the arranger of the Vedas. “The object of both these schools is to teach the art of reasoning with the express purpose of aiding the interpretation of the Vedas, not only in the speculative but the practical portion.” The principal doctrines of the Vedanta (Uttara) are that “God is the omniscient and omnipotent cause of the existence, continuance, and dissolution of the universe. Creation is an act of his will; he is both the efficient and the material cause of the world.” At the consummation of all things all are resolved into him. He is “the sole-existent and universal soul,” and besides him there is no second principle; he is Adwaita, `without a second.’ Sankaracharya was the great apostle of this school.

The period of the rise of these schools of philosophy is uncertain, and is entirely a matter of inference, but they are probably later than the fifth century B.C. The Vedanta (Uttara-mimansa) is apparently the latest, and is supposed to have been evoked by the teachings of the Buddhists. This would bring it to within three or four centuries B.C. The other schools are to all appearance older than the Vedanta, but it is considered by some that all the schools show traces of Buddhist influences, and if so, the dates of all must be later. It is a question whether Hindu philosophy is or is not indebted to Greek teaching, and the later the date of the origin of these schools the greater is the possibility of Greek influence. Mr. Colebrooke, the highest authority on the subject, is of opinion that “the Hindus were in this instance the teachers, not the learners.”

Besides the six schools, there is yet a later system known as the Pauranik and the Eclectic school. The doctrines of this school are expounded in the Bhagavad-gita (q.v.).

The merits of the various schools have been thus summed up: -

”When we consider the six Darsanas, we shall find that one of them, the Uttara-mimansa, bears no title to be ranked by the side of the others, and is really little more than a mystical explanation of the practical injunctions of the Vedas. We shall also admit that the earlier Vedanta, very different from the school of Nihilists now existing under that name, was chiefly a controversial essay, seeking to support the theology of sacred writ, but borrowing all its philosophical portions from the Yoga school, the most popular at the time of its composition. Lastly, the Nyaya is little more than a treatise on logic, introducing the doctrines of the theistic Sankhya; while the Vaiseshika is an essay on physics, with, it is true, the theory of atoms as its distinguishing mark, though even to this we feel inclined to refuse the imputation of novelty, since we find some idea of it lurking obscurely in the theory of subtile elements which is brought forward in Kapila’s Sankhya. In short, the basis of all Indian philosophy, if indeed we may not say the only system of philosophy really discovered in India, is the Sankhya, and this forms the basis of the doctrines expounded in the Bhagavad-gita.” – Cockburn Thomson.

        Colebrooke’s Essays are the great authorities on Hindu philosophy. Ballantyne has translated many of the original aphorisms, and he, Cockburn Thomson, Hall, Banerjea, and others have written on the subject.

DARUKA Krishna’s charioteer, and his attendant in his last days.

DASA-KUMARA-CHARITA `Tale of the ten princes,’ by Sri Dandi. It is one of the few Sanskrit works written in prose, but its style is so studied and elaborate that it is classed as a Kavya or poem. The tales are stories of common life, and display a low condition of morals and a corrupt state of society. The text has been printed with a long analytical introduction by H. H. Wilson, and again in Bombay by Buhler. There is an abridged translation by Jacobs, also a translation in French by Fauche, and a longer analysis in vol. iv. of Wilson’s works.

DASANANA `Ten faced.’ A name of Ravana.

DASA-RATHA A prince of the Solar race, son of Aja, a descendant of Ikshwaku, and king of Ayodhya. He had three wives, but being childless, he performed the sacrifice of a horse, and according to the Ramayana, the chief queen, Kausalya, remained in close contact with the slaughtered horse for a night, and the other two queens beside her. Four sons were then born to him from his three wives. Kausalya bore Rama, Kaikeyi gave birth to Bharata, and Su-mitra bore Lakshmana and Satru-ghna. Rama partook of half the nature of Vishnu, Bharata of a quarter, and the other two shared the remaining fourth. The Ramayana, is explanation of this manifestation of Vishnu, says that he had promised the gods to become incarnate as man for the destruction of Ravana. He chose Dasa-ratha for his human parent; and when that king was performing a second sacrifice to obtain progeny, he came to him out of the fire as a glorious being, and gave him a vessel full of nectar to administer to his wives. Dasa-ratha gave half of it to Kausalya, and a fourth each to Su-mitra and Kaikeyi. They all in consequence became pregnant, and their offspring partook of the divine nature according to the portion of the nectar each had drunk. There were several others of the name. See Rama-chandra.

DASARHA, DASARHA Prince of the Dasarhas, a title of Krishna. The Dasarhas were a tribe of Yadavas.

DASA-RUPAKA An early treatise on dramatic composition. It has been published by Hall in the Bibliotheca Indica.

DASAS `Slaves.’ Tribes and people of India who opposed the progress of the intrusive Aryans.

DASRAS `Beautiful.’ The elder of the two Aswins, or in the dual (Dasrau), the two Aswins.

DASYUS In the Vedas they are evil beings, enemies of the gods and men. They are represented as being of a dark colour, and probably were the natives of India who contended with the immigrant Aryans. It has, however, been maintained that they were hermits and ascetics of Aryan race. In later times they are barbarians, robbers, outcasts, who, according to some authorities, descended from Viswamitra.

DATTAKA-CHANDRIKA A treatise on the law of adoption by Devana Bhatta. Translated by Sutherland.

DATTAKA-MIMANSA A treatise on the law of adoption by Nanda Pandita. Translated by Sutherland.

DATTAKA-SIROMANI A digest of the principal treatises on the law of adoption. Printed at Calcutta.

DATTATREYA Son of Atri and Anasuya. A Brahman saint in whom a portion of Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva, or more particularly Vishnu, was incarnate. He had three sons, Soma, Datta, and Dur-vasas, to whom also a portion of the divine essence was transmitted. He was the patron of Karta-virya, and gave him a thousand arms.

DAYA-BHAGA `Law of inheritance.’ This title belongs especially to the treatise of Jimuta Vahana, current in Bengal. Translated by Colebrooke.

DAYA-KRAMA-SANGRAHA A treatise on the law of inheritance as current in Bengal, by Raghunandana Bhattacharya.

DEVA (Nom. Devas = Deus, from the root Div, to shine.) God. A deity. The gods are spoken of as thirty-three in number, eleven for each of the three worlds.

DEVAKA Father of Devaki and brother of Ugrasena.

DEVAKI Wife of Vasu-deva, mother of Krishna and cousin of Kansa. She is sometimes called an incarnation of Aditi, and is said to have been born again as Primi, the wife of King Su-tapas.

DEVALA A Vedic Rishi, to whom some hymns are attributed. There are several men of this name; one was author of a code of law, another was an astronomer, and one the grandfather of Panini.

DEVALA Music, personified as a female.

DEVA-LOKA The world of the gods, i.e., Swarga, Indra’s heaven.

DEVA-MATRI `Mother of the gods.’ An appellation of Aditi (q.v.).

DEVA-RATA 1. A royal Rishi of the Solar race, who dwelt among the Videhas, and had charge of Siva’s bow, which descended to Janaka and was broken by Rama, 2. A name given to Sunah-sephas.

DEVARSHIS (Deva-rishis) Rishis or saints of the celestial class, who dwell in the regions of the gods, such as Narada. Sages who have attained perfection upon earth and have been exalted as demigods to heaven.

DEVATA A divine being or god. The name Devatas includes the gods in general, or, as most frequently used, the whole body of inferior gods.

DEVATADHYAYA-BRAHMANA The fifth Brahmana of the Sama-veda. The text has been edited by Burnell.

DEVAYANI Daughter of Sukra, priest of the Daityas. She fell in love with her father’s pupil Kacha, son of Brihaspati, but he rejected her advances. She cursed him, and in return he cursed her, that she, a Brahman’s daughter, should marry a Kshatriya. Devayani was companion to Sarmishtha, daughter of the king of the Daityas. One day they went to bathe, and the god Vayu changed their clothes. When they were dressed, they began to quarrel about the change, and Devayani spoke “with a scowl so bitter that Sarmishtha slapped her face, and pushed her into a dry well.” She was rescued by King Yayati, who took her home to her father. Sukra, at his daughter’s vehement persuasion, demanded satisfaction from Sarmishtha’s father, the Daitya king. He conceded Devayani’s demand, that upon her marriage Sarmishtha should be given to her for a servant. Devayani married King Yayati, a Kshatriya, and Sarmishtha became her servant. Subsequently Yayati became enamoured of Sarmishtha, and she bore him a son, the discovery of which so enraged Devayani that she parted from her husband, and went home to her father, having borne two sons, Yadu and Turvasa or Turvasu. Her father, Sukra, cursed Yayati with the infirmity of old age, but afterwards offered to transfer it to any one of Yayati’s sons who would submit to receive it. Yadu, the eldest, and progenitor of the Yadavas, refused, and so did all the other sorts, with the exception of Sarmishtha’s youngest son, Puru. Those who refused were cursed by their father, that their posterity should never possess dominion; but Puru, who bore his father’s curse for a thousand years, succeeded his father as monarch, and was the ancestor of the Pandavas and Kauravas.

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