The Sānkhya Kārikā, with the Bhāshya of Gauḍapāda — trans. H. T. Colebrooke and H. H. Wilson (1837)

THE
SANKHYA KARIKA,

MEMORIAL VERSES ON THE SANKHYA PHILOSOPHY,

ae: pe BY =F “"" ISWARA KRISHNA;

TRANSLATED FROM THE SANSCRIT
BY

HENRY THOMAS COLEBROOKE, ESQ.

ALSO
THE BHASHYA OR COMMENTARY OF
Saclahe.t.ev GAURAPADA;

TRANSLATED, AND ILLUSTRATED BY AN ORIGINAL COMMENT,
BY

HORACE HAYMAN WILSON, M.A. F.R.S.

MEMBER OF THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, AND OF THE ASIATIC SOCIETIES OF PARIS AND caLceTTA, &e. &e.; AND RODEN PROFESSOR OF SANSCRIT IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD, aiews

OXFORD,
PRINTED FOR THE ORIENTAL TRANSLATION FUND OF GREAT BRITAIN
AND IRELAND,

a

BY 5, COLLINGWOOD, PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY.
PUBLISHED AND SOLD BY A. J. VALPY, A.M., LONDON.
1837.

—

TO
SIR GRAVES CHAMNEY HAUGHTON, M.A. F.R.S.
AS TO ONE
WHO WAS THE FRIEND AND ADMIRER
OF THE LATE
HENRY THOMAS COLEBROOKE,
WHO IS QUALIFIED,
BY HIS CONVERSANCY WITH THE SANSCRIT LANGUAGE
AND METAPHYSICAL INQUIRIES,
TO APPRECIATE THE CORRECTNESS WITH WHICH
‘THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE HINDUS
Is REPRESENTED IN THE FOLLOWING PAGES;
AND
WHO HAS FOR MANY YEARS BEEN UNITED WITH THEIR AUTHOR
IN STUDIES, SENTIMENTS, AND FRIENDSHIP ;
THE PRESENT WORK IS INSCRIBED,
AS A PUBLIC TESTIMONY OF ESTEEM AND REGARD,
BY

HORACE HAYMAN WILSON.

PREFACE.

ONE of the works earliest announced for publication by the Oriental Translation Fund Committee was the Sdnkhya Karikd, a text book of that system of Hindu philosophy to which the term Sdnkhya is applied, and which had been translated from Sanscrit into English by that eminent Sanscrit scholar the late Henry Thomas Colebrooke. The accession of the lingering illness which finally terminated in his decease prevented Mr. Colebrooke from conducting his work through the press, and from adding to the translation those explanations and illustrations which the text required, and which he was most competent to supply. Upon my return to England from India, therefore, in the beginning of 1833, I found that no progress had been made in the publication, and that the Translation of the text alone was in the possession of the Committee.

Being desirous of redeeming the pledge which they had publicly given, and of accomplishing the purpose which they had announced, the Committee thought it desirable that the Translation, in its then existing form, should be printed ; and conceived that, as its extent was insufficient to constitute a separate work, it would be advisable to print it in the Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society. With this view the manuscript was placed in my hands, that I should render such assistance as I might be able to afford in the correction of the press.

Conceiving that the appearance of the Translation in the pages of the Transactions would be equally incompatible with the views of the Translator and the original intention of the Committee, I ventured to recommend that their purpose should be adhered to, and b vi PREFACE.

that the Translation should be printed, as at first designed, as a separate work ; offering at the same time to supply such annotations as the text might seem to require, to be rendered sufficiently intelligible and explicit. The Committee approved of the suggestion, and Mr. Colebrooke’s concurrence was readily obtained.

In the meantime, in the interval that had elapsed since the work was announced, other translations of the Séinkhya Kdrikd had appeared. The Sanscrit text, and a version of it in Latin by Professor Lassen, had been printed at Bonn*; and the text in Roman characters, with a French translation, had been published at Paris by Mons. Pauthiert. Many of the verses of the translation had been also embodied in Mr. Colebrooke’s general view of the Sankhya philosophy ; and it appeared to me expedient, therefore, to make some such addition to the work as should give it at least more novelty than it was otherwise likely to possess. It seemed also to be a favourable occasion for offering to Sanscrit students an exentplification of the mode in which philosophical works are illustrated by native commentators; and I accordingly procured the consent of the Translation Committee to print, not only the text and translation of the Sinkhya Karikd, but the text and a translation of the oldest, and perhaps the best, commentary upon the Kdrikd, the Bhdshya of Gavurapapa. In order likewise to fulfil the object of attempting to render the doctrines of both text and comment as clear and explicit as it was in my power to represent them, I further added to the translation of the Bhdshya a comment of my own, deriving my elucidations however, to a very great extent, from the works of native scholiasts, and giving the original passages at the foot of the page.