The Yuktidīpikā on the Origin of the Vedas

Abstract

AbstractIn this article, I reconstruct the view of the Yuktidīpikā, the most detailed and profound commentary of classical Sāṃkhya, on the origin of the Vedas. A close reading of the text reveals that its unknown author wavered between at least two different views on this issue. The first view is that the authorless but noneternal Vedas evolve from prakṛti (primordial matter) at the beginning of a new cycle of existence of the world (kalpa) and merge into prakṛti during a cosmic dissolution (pralaya). The Yuktidīpikā is the first text in classical Sāṃkhya to state directly that the Vedas have no author. The second and opposite view is that Kapila is the author of the highest teaching of the Vedas. This view is expressed only indirectly. Besides reconstructing the above-mentioned views, I attempt to answer the question of whether by quoting Nirukta 1.20 the Yuktidīpikā communicates something about the origin of the Vedas. Illustrating Sāṃkhya thought by quoting this passage of the Nirukta, as well as proclaiming the idea that the Vedas are authorless, which became the “official” standpoint of the Sāṃkhya darśana, can be interpreted as elements of the Yuktidīpikā’s pioneering project to show that Sāṃkhya is not in conflict with the Vedas.