96 Popular Indian Philosophers

The Buddha (also known as Siddhartha Gotama or Siddhārtha Gautama or Buddha Shakyamuni) was a philosopher, mendicant, meditator, spiritual teacher, and religious leader who lived in Ancient India (c. 5th to 4th century BCE). He is revered as the founder of the world religion of Buddhism, and worshipped...Read More

Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (14 April 1891 – 6 December 1956), also known as Babasaheb Ambedkar, was an Indian scholar, jurist, economist, politician and social reformer, who inspired the Dalit Buddhist movement and campaigned against social discrimination towards the untouchables (Dalits), while also...Read More

Krishna is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of the god Vishnu and also as the supreme God in his own right. He is the god of compassion, tenderness, love and is one of the most popular and widely revered among Indian divinities. Krishna’s birthday is celebrated...Read More

Rajneesh (born Chandra Mohan Jain, 11 December 1931 – 19 January 1990), also known as Acharya Rajneesh, Bhagwan Shri Rajneesh, and later as Osho, was an Indian godman, mystic, and founder of the Rajneesh movement.
During his lifetime, he was viewed as a controversial new religious movement...Read More

Bodhidharma was a semi-legendary Buddhist monk who lived during the 5th or 6th century. He is traditionally credited as the transmitter of Chan Buddhism to China, and regarded as its first Chinese patriarch. According to Chinese legend, he also began the physical training of the monks of Shaolin Monastery...Read More

Guru Nanak (born as Nanak on 15 April 1469 – 22 September 1539), also referred to as Baba Nanak (‘father Nanak’), was the founder of Sikhism and is the first of the ten Sikh Gurus. His birth is celebrated worldwide as Guru Nanak Gurpurab on Katak Pooranmashi (‘full-moon of the...Read More

Swami Vivekananda ( 12 January 1863 – 4 July 1902), born Narendranath Datta), was an Indian Hindu monk. He was a chief disciple of the 19th-century Indian mystic Ramakrishna. He was a key figure in the introduction of the Indian philosophies of Vedanta and Yoga to the Western world, and is credited...Read More

Mahavira, also known as Vardhamana or Kevala was the 24th Tirthankara of Jainism. He was the spiritual successor of 23rd Tirthankara Parshvanatha. Mahavira was born in the early part of the 6th century BC into a royal Kshatriya Jain family in Bihar, India. His mother’s name was Trishala and...Read More

Chanakya was an ancient Indian teacher, philosopher, economist, jurist and royal advisor. He is traditionally identified as Kauṭilya or Vishnugupta, who authored the ancient Indian political treatise, the Arthashastra, a text dated to roughly between the 3rd century BCE and the 3rd century CE. As...Read More

Ashtavakra is a revered Vedic sage in Hinduism. His name literally means “eight bends”, reflecting the eight physical handicaps he was born with. His maternal grandfather was the Vedic sage Aruni, his parents were both Vedic students at Aruni’s school. Ashtavakra studied, became...Read More

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi ( 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), also known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethicist, who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful campaign for India’s independence from British rule, and in turn...Read More

Buddhaghosa was a 5th-century Indian Theravada Buddhist commentator, translator and philosopher. He worked in the Great Monastery (Mahāvihāra) at Anurādhapura, Sri Lanka and saw himself as being part of the Vibhajjavāda school and in the lineage of the Sinhalese Mahāvihāra.His best-known work...Read More

Nagarjuna (c. 150 – c. 250 CE), (Tibetan: mGon-po Klu-grub) is widely considered one of the most important Buddhist philosophers. Along with his disciple Āryadeva, he is considered the founder of the Madhyamaka school of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Nāgārjuna is also credited with developing the philosophy...Read More

Jiddu Krishnamurti ( 11 May 1895 – 17 February 1986) was an Indian speaker and writer. In his early life, he was groomed to be the new World Teacher, but later rejected this mantle and withdrew from the Theosophy organization behind it. His interests included psychological revolution, the nature...Read More

Adi Shankaracharya was an Indian philosopher and theologian who consolidated the doctrine of Advaita Vedanta. He is credited with unifying and establishing the main currents of thought in Hinduism. Adi Shankaracharya was an Indian philosopher and theologian who consolidated the doctrine of Advaita...Read More

Rabindranath Tagore (born Robindronath Thakur, 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941; sobriquet Gurudev, Kobiguru, Biswakobi) was a Bengali poet, writer, composer, philosopher and painter. He reshaped Bengali literature and music, as well as Indian art with Contextual Modernism in the late 19th and early 20th...Read More

Ramana Maharshi (30 December 1879 – 14 April 1950) was an Indian Hindu sage and jivanmukta (liberated being). He was born Venkataraman Iyer, but is mostly known by the name Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi.He was born in Tiruchuli, Tamil Nadu, India. In 1895, an attraction to the sacred hill Arunachala...Read More

Asaṅga (fl. 4th century C.E.) was “one of the most important spiritual figures” of Mahayana Buddhism and the “founder of the Yogachara school”. Traditionally, he and his half-brother Vasubandhu are regarded as the major classical Indian Sanskrit exponents of Mahayana Abhidharma, Vijñanavada (awareness only) thought and Mahayana teachings on the bodhisattva path.

Vātsyāyana is an ancient Indian philosopher, known for writing the Kama Sutra, the most ancient book in the world on human sexuality. He lived in India during the second or third century CE, probably in Pataliputra (modern day Patna).He is not to be confused with Pakṣilasvāmin Vātsyāyana, the...Read More

Candrakīrti ( c. 600 – c. 650) was a Buddhist scholar of the Madhyamaka school and a noted commentator on the works of Nagarjuna (c. 150 – c. 250 CE) and those of his main disciple, Aryadeva, authoring two influential works, Prasannapadā and Madhyamakāvatāra.Very little is known about...Read More

Vasishtha is one of the oldest and most revered Vedic rishis. He is one of the Saptarishis (seven great Rishis) of India. Vashistha is credited as the chief author of Mandala 7 of the Rigveda. Vashishtha and his family are mentioned in Rigvedic verse 10.167.4, other Rigvedic mandalas and in many Vedic...Read More

According to Hindu legends, Jamadagni is one of the Saptarishis (Seven Great Sages Rishi) in the seventh, current Manvantara. He is the father of Parashurama, the sixth incarnation of Vishnu. He was a descendant of the sage Bhrigu, one of the Prajapatis created by Brahma, the God of Creation. Jamadagni had five children with wife Renuka, the youngest of whom was Parashurama, an avatar of Lord Vishnu. Jamadagni was well versed in the scriptures and weaponry without formal instruction.

Charvaka ( also known as Lokāyata, is an ancient school of Indian materialism. Charvaka holds direct perception, empiricism, and conditional inference as proper sources of knowledge, embraces philosophical skepticism and rejects ritualism, religion and supernaturalism. It was a very popular belief...Read More

Ajatashatru (492 to 460 BCE or early 5th century BCE) was a king of the Haryanka dynasty of Magadha in East India. He was the son of King Bimbisara and was a contemporary of both Mahavira (Nigantha Nataputta) and Gautama Buddha. He forcefully took over the kingdom of Magadha from his father and imprisoned...Read More

Sri Aurobindo (15 August 1872 – 5 December 1950) was an Indian philosopher, yogi, guru, poet, and nationalist. He joined the Indian movement for independence from British rule, for a while was one of its influential leaders and then became a spiritual reformer, introducing his visions on human progress...Read More

Basavanna was an Indian 12th-century statesman, philosopher, poet, Lingayat saint in the Shiva-focussed Bhakti movement, and Hindu Shaivite social reformer during the reign of the Kalyani Chalukya/Kalachuri dynasty. Basavanna was active during the rule of both dynasties but reached his peak of influence...Read More

Kashyapa is a revered Vedic sage of Hinduism. He is one of the Saptarishis, the seven ancient sages of the Rigveda, as well as numerous other Sanskrit texts and Indian mythologies. He is the most ancient Rishi listed in the colophon verse in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad.Kashyapa is a common ancient name, referring to many different personalities in the ancient Hindu and Buddhist texts.

Dharmakīrti (fl. c. 6th or 7th century), was an influential Indian Buddhist philosopher who worked at Nālandā. He was one of the key scholars of epistemology (pramāṇa) in Buddhist philosophy, and is associated with the Yogācāra and Sautrāntika schools. He was also one of the primary theorists...Read More

Atri or Attri is a Vedic sage, who is credited with composing numerous hymns to Agni, Indra and other Vedic deities of Hinduism. Atri is one of the Saptarishi (seven great Vedic sages) in the Hindu tradition, and the one most mentioned in its scripture Rigveda.The fifth Mandala (Book 5) of Rigveda...Read More

Gorakhnath (also known as Goraksanath, c. early 11th century) was a Hindu yogi, saint who was the influential founder of the Nath Hindu monastic movement in India. He is considered as one of the two notable disciples of Matsyendranath. His followers are found in India at the place known as Garbhagiri...Read More

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan pronunciation (5 September 1888 – 17 April 1975) was an Indian philosopher, academic, and statesman who served as the first Vice President of India (1952–1962) and the second President of India (1962–1967).One of India’s most distinguished twentieth-century scholars...Read More

The Saptarishi, a Sanskrit dvigu meaning “seven sages”) are the seven rishis in ancient India, who are extolled at many places in the Vedas and other Hindu literature. The Vedic Samhitas never enumerate these rishis by name, though later Vedic texts such as the Brahmanas and Upanisads...Read More

Brahmarshi Vishvamitra is one of the most venerated rishis or sages of ancient India. A near-divine being, he is also credited as the author of most of Mandala 3 of the Rigveda, including Gayatri Mantra. The Puranas mention that only 24 rishis since antiquity have understood the whole meaning of—and thus wielded the whole power of—Gayatri Mantra. Vishvamitra is supposed to be the first, and Yajnavalkya the last.

Kanada (Sanskrit: कणाद, IAST: Kaṇāda), also known as Kashyapa, Ulūka, Kananda and Kanabhuk, was an ancient Indian natural scientist and philosopher who founded the Vaisheshika school of Indian philosophy that also represents the earliest Indian physics. Estimated to have lived sometime...Read More

Parshvanatha (Pārśvanātha), also known as Parshva (Pārśva) and Paras, was the 23rd of 24 tirthankaras (ford-makers or propagators of dharma) of Jainism. He is one of the earliest tirthankaras who are acknowledged as historical figures. He was the earliest exponent of Karma philosophy in recorded...Read More

Paramahansa Yogananda ( January 5, 1893 – March 7, 1952) was an Indian monk, yogi and guru who introduced millions to the teachings of meditation and Kriya Yoga through his organization Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF) / Yogoda Satsanga Society (YSS) of India, and who lived his last 32 years in...Read More

Thiruvalluvar, commonly known as Valluvar, was a celebrated Tamil poet and philosopher. He is best known as the author of Tirukkuṟaḷ, a collection of couplets on ethics, political and economical matters, and love. The text is considered an exceptional and widely cherished work of the Tamil literature.Almost...Read More

Pāṇini ( variously dated between fl. 4th century BCE and “6th to 5th century BCE”) was an ancient Sanskrit philologist, grammarian, and a revered scholar in ancient India.Since the discovery and publication of his work by European scholars in the nineteenth century, Pāṇini has...Read More

The originator of the justice-departure of Badarayana Vedanta was the author of the book Brahmasutra. As many Brahmasutras are available, their author was the same person and they were Badarayana. From the time of Vachaspatimishra, Badarayana was also known as ‘Vyasa’, but the Brahmasutrakara...Read More

Bharadwaja, also referred to as Guru or Bharadvaja, Bṛhaspatya, was one of the revered Vedic sages (maharishi) in Ancient India. He was a renowned scholar, economist, and physician. His contributions to ancient Indian literature, specifically the Puranas and Rig Veda, provide significant insight...Read More

Narayana Guru (28 August 1855 – 20 September 1928) was a philosopher, spiritual leader and social reformer in India. He was born into a family that belonged to the Ezhava caste. He led a reform movement against the injustice in the caste-ridden society of Kerala in order to promote spiritual enlightenment and social equality.

Shandilya  is a Brahmin gotra, named after the Rishi Shandilya, specifying that individuals of the gotra have Shandilya as one of their patrilineal ancestors. Shandilya is actually a historical Brahmin sage, but later he has started titles like Vashishtha, Vishwamitra and Vyasa.

Kapila is a given name of different individuals in ancient and medieval Indian texts, of which the most well known is the founder of the Samkhya school of Hindu philosophy. Kapila of Samkhya fame is considered a Vedic sage, estimated to have lived in the 6th-century BCE, or the 7th-century BCE.Rishi...Read More

Jaimini was an ancient Indian scholar who founded the Mīmāṃsā school of Hindu philosophy. He was a disciple of sage Veda Vyasa, the son of Parashara. Traditionally attributed to be the author of the Mimamsa Sutras and Jaimini Sutras, he is estimated to have lived around the 4th-century BCE. His...Read More

Ramanuja or Ramanujacharya (c. 1017–1137 CE  ) was an Indian theologian, philosopher, social reformer, and one of the most important exponents of the Sri Vaishnavism tradition within Hinduism. His philosophical foundations for devotionalism were influential to the Bhakti movement.Ramanuja’s...Read More

Vasubandhu  (fl. 4th to 5th century CE) was an influential Buddhist monk and scholar from Gandhara. He was a philosopher who wrote commentary on the Abhidharma, from the perspectives of the Sarvastivada and Sautrāntika schools. After his conversion to Mahayana Buddhism, along with his half-brother,...Read More

Kumārila Bhaṭṭa (fl. roughly 700) was a Hindu philosopher and a scholar of Mimamsa school of philosophy from early medieval India. He is famous for many of his various theses on Mimamsa, such as Mimamsaslokavarttika. Bhaṭṭa was a staunch believer in the supreme validity of Vedic injunction,...Read More

Shri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu ( a.k.a. Mahāprabhu or “Great Lord”) was a 15th century Indian saint and founder of Achintya Bheda Abheda. Devotees consider him an incarnation of the god Krishna. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s mode of worshipping Krishna with ecstatic song and dance had...Read More

Abhay Charanaravinda Bhaktivedanta Swami ( 1 September 1896 – 14 November 1977) or Srila Prabhupada, born Abhay Charan De, was an Indian spiritual teacher and the founder-acharya (preceptor) of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), commonly known as the “Hare Krishna...Read More

Valmiki (; Sanskrit: वाल्मीकि Vālmīki [ʋaːlmiːkɪ]) is celebrated as the harbinger-poet in Sanskrit literature. The epic Ramayana, dated variously from the 5th century BCE to first century BCE, is attributed to him, based on the attribution in the text itself. He is revered as...Read More

Makkhali Gosala was a contemporary of Mahavir Swami, initially he took the discipleship of Mahavir Swami, but due to differences later, he established an independent sect, called the Ajivak Sampradaya.

Dignāga (a.k.a. Diṅnāga, c. 480 – c. 540 CE) was an Indian Buddhist scholar and one of the Buddhist founders of Indian logic (hetu vidyā). Dignāga’s work laid the groundwork for the development of deductive logic in India and created the first system of Buddhist logic and epistemology...Read More

Yajnavalkya or Yagyavlkya  was a Hindu Vedic sage. He is mentioned in the Upanishads, and likely lived in the Videha region of ancient India, approximately between the 8th century BCE, and the 7th century BCE. Yajnavalkya is considered one of the earliest philosophers in recorded history. Yajnavalkya...Read More

Gadadhar Bhattacharya (1650) was a celebrated Nayyavik of Navya Nyaya. He was a resident of Navadwip. He has written a very elaborate and sophisticated commentary on Raghunath’s “Diddhiti” which is famous as “Gadadhari”. Etymology, Shaktism, etc. are his many fundamental texts, from which the ingenuity of his original thinking is known. He is considered to be present in the 17th century.

Jupiter is mentioned in many places. He was an ascetic sage. They have also been called ‘sharpshring’. Their weapons were bow, arrow and gold, and horses of copper color used to plow in these chariots. Jupiter is said to be extremely powerful. He had cows rescued by Indra. The Martians used to...Read More

Vallabhacharya (1479–1531 CE), also known as Vallabha, was an Indian Telugu philosopher who founded the Krishna-centered Pushti sect of Vaishnavism in the Braj region of India, and the philosophy of Shuddha advaita (Pure Nondualism).Vallabha was born in a Telugu family that had been living in Varanasi,...Read More

Parāśara was a maharshi and the author of many ancient Indian texts. He is accredited as the author of the first Purana, the Vishnu Purana, before his son Vyasa wrote it in its present form. He was the grandson of Vasishtha, the son of Śakti Maharṣi, and the father of Vyasa. There are several...Read More

Dīrghatamas was an ancient sage well known for his philosophical verses in the RgVeda. He was author of Suktas (hymns) 140 to 164 in the first Mandala (section) of the RgVeda.However there was another Dirghatamas named Dirghatama Mamteya. Dirghatamas was one of the Angirasa Rishis, the oldest of...Read More

Bhartṛhari ( also romanised as Bhartrihari; fl. c. 5th century CE) is a Sanskrit writer to whom are normally ascribed two influential Sanskrit texts: the Vākyapadīya, on Sanskrit grammar and linguistic philosophy, a foundational text in the Indian grammatical tradition, explaining numerous theories...Read More

Vasugupta ( 800 – 850 CE) was the author of the Shiva Sutras, an important text of the Advaita tradition of Kashmir Shaivism, also called Trika (sometimes called Trika Yoga). Little is known about Vasugupta’s life, other than he lived in Kashmir and in the first half of the 9th century. He...Read More

Atreya Rishi, or Atreya Punarvasu, was a descendant of Atri, one of the great Hindu sages (rishis) whose accomplishments are detailed in the Puranas. Sage Atreya was a renowned scholar of Ayurveda and six schools of early Ayurveda was founded based on his teachings. He is credited as the writer of...Read More

Sañjaya Belaṭṭhaputta was the sixth and final teacher referenced by Ajatashatru. Belaṭṭhaputta did not provide Ajatashatru with a clear answer to his question one way or another, leading some scholars to align him with Ajñana, an agnostic school of Indian philosophy which held that metaphysical knowledge was impossible to obtain.

Maharshi Dayanand Saraswati (pronunciation ) (12 February 1824 – 30 October 1883) was an Indian philosopher, social leader and founder of the Arya Samaj, a reform movement of the Vedic dharma. He was the first to give the call for Swaraj as “India for Indians” in 1876, a call later taken...Read More

Aruni (fl. c. 8th century BCE), also referred to as Uddalaka or Uddalaka Aruni or Uddalaka Varuni, is a revered Vedic sage of Hinduism. He is mentioned in many Vedic era Sanskrit texts, and his philosophical teachings are among the center piece in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad and Chandogya Upanishad,...Read More

Patañjali was a sage in India, thought to be the author of a number of Sanskrit works. The greatest of these are the Yoga Sutras, a classical yoga text. There is doubt as to whether the sage Patañjali is the author of all the works attributed to him as there are a number of known historical authors...Read More

Shriram Sharma (20September 1911– 2 June 1990) was a social reformer, a philosopher, and founder of “All World Gayatri Pariwar”, which has its headquarters at Shantikunj, Haridwar, India. He is known as Pandit Shriram Sharma Acharya by the members of the Gayatri Pariwar.
He pioneered...Read More

Jiva Goswami ( c. 1513 – c. 1598) was an Indian philosopher and saint from the Gaudiya Vaishnava school of Vedanta tradition, producing a great number of philosophical works on the theology and practice of Bhakti yoga, Vaishnava Vedanta and associated disciplines. He is known as one of the Six Goswamis of Vrindavan and was the nephew of the two leading figures, Rupa Goswami and Sanatana Goswami.

Raikva, the poor unknown cart-driver, appears in Chapter IV of the Chandogya Upanishad of Muktika canon where it is learnt that he knew That which was knowable and needed to be known, he knew That from which all this had originated. Along with Uddalaka, Prachinshala, Budila, Sarkarakshaya and Indradyumna,...Read More

Shri-harsha (IAST: Śrīharṣa) was a 12th century Sanskrit poet and philosopher from India. Śrīharṣa was the son of Śrīhira and Mamalladevī. His father, Śrīhira, was a poet in the court of the Gahadavala king Vijayachandra. His father was also guiding and diverting common people towards...Read More

Akshapada is the author of Nyayasutra, the teacher, also known as Maharishi Gautama or Gautama. According to Mahakavi Bhasa the name of the creator of jurisprudence is Medhatithi (Statue drama, fifth issue). According to the Mahabharata (Shanti Parva, A. 265), Gautama Medhatithi is the same person, not two different people (Medhatithirmahapragyano Gautamastapasi situated:).

Kātyāyana also spelled as Katyayana (c. 2nd century BC) was a Sanskrit grammarian, mathematician and Vedic priest who lived in ancient India. According to some legends, he was born in the Katya lineage originating from Vishwamitra, thus called Katyayana. The Kathāsaritsāgara mentions Katyayana...Read More

Nachiketa or sometimes even Nachiketan (Sanskrit: नचिकेतन्) was the son of the sage Vājashravas. He is the child protagonist in an ancient Indian story about the nature of the atman (self). The story is told in the Katha Upanishad (c. 9th century BCE), though the name has several...Read More

Madhvacharya ( CE 1238–1317), sometimes anglicised as Madhva Acharya, and also known as Pūrna Prajña and Ānanda Tīrtha, was an Indian philosopher, theologian and the chief proponent of the Dvaita (dualism) school of Vedanta. Madhva called his philosophy Tattvavāda meaning “arguments from...Read More

Kundakunda was a Digambara Jain monk and philosopher, who likely lived in the 2nd CE century CE or later.He authored many Jain texts such as: Samayasara, Niyamasara, Pancastikayasara, Pravachanasara, Astapahuda and Barasanuvekkha. He occupies the highest place in the tradition of the Digambara Jain acharyas. All Digambara Jains say his name before starting to read the scripture. He spent most of his time at Ponnur Hills, Tamil Nadu and later part of life at Kundadri, Shimoga, Karnataka,

Champat Rai Jain (1867–1942) was a Digambara Jain born in Delhi and who studied and practiced law in England. He became an influential Jainism scholar and comparative religion writer between 1910s and 1930s who translated and interpreted Digambara texts. In early 1920s, he became religiously active...Read More

Shrimad Rajchandra (11 November 1867 – 11 April 1901) was a Jain poet, mystic, philosopher, scholar and reformer. Born near Morbi, he claimed to have recollection of his past lives at the age of seven. He performed Avadhāna, a memory retention and recollection test that gained him popularity, but...Read More

Gauḍapāda (fl. c. 6th century CE), also referred as Gauḍapādācārya (“Gauḍapāda the Teacher”), was an early medieval era Hindu philosopher and scholar of the Advaita Vedanta school of Hindu philosophy. While details of his biography are uncertain, his ideas inspired others such...Read More

Ajita Kesakambali was an ancient Indian philosopher in the 6th century BC. He is considered to be the first known proponent of Indian materialism, and forerunner to the Charvaka school. He was probably a contemporary of the Buddha and Mahavira. It has frequently been noted that the doctrines of the...Read More

Pippalada was an ancient Indian Vedic sage and philosopher in Hindu tradition. He is known to have written the Prashna Upanishad, which is among the ten Mukhya Upanishads. He was the son of noble benevolent sage Dadhichi, who donated his bones to the devatas to provide them a material for making weapons and defeat the Asurs. He was the founder of Pippalada School of thought, which taught the Atharvaveda.

Udyotakara (or Uddyotakara) (c. 6th century CE) was a philosopher of the Nyaya school of Indian philosophy. Subandhu’s Vāsavadattā mentioned him as the rescuer of the Nyaya. He was a brahmin of Bharadvaja gotra and he belonged to the Pashupata sect. His philosophical treatise, the Nyāyavārttika was written to defend Vatsyayana’s Nyāyavāṣya against the criticisms made by Dignaga.

Bhāviveka, also called Bhavya or Bhāvaviveka ( c. 500 – c. 578) was a sixth-century Madhyamaka Buddhist. In Tibetan Buddhism Bhāviveka is regarded as the founder of the Svātantrika tradition of the Mādhyamaka school of Buddhism, which is seen as antagonistic to Prāsaṅgika Madhyamaka.

Eknath Easwaran (December 17, 1910 – October 26, 1999) was an Indian-born spiritual teacher, author, as well as a translator and interpreter of Indian religious texts such as the Bhagavad Gita and the Upanishads.
Easwaran was a professor of English literature at the University of Nagpur in...Read More

Sir Muhammad Iqbal ( 9 November 1877 – 21 April 1938) was a poet, Scholar and politician from Punjab, British India (now in Pakistan), whose poetry in Urdu and Persian is considered to be among the greatest of the modern era, and whose vision of an independent state for the Muslims of British India...Read More

Vachaspati Mishra was a 9th century Indian hindu philosopher of the Advaita Vedanta tradition. He wrote so broadly on various branches of Indian philosophy that he was known as “one for whom all systems are his own”, or in Sanskrit, a sarva-tantra-sva-tantra. Vācaspati Miśra was a prolific...Read More

Gangesha Upadhyaya (first half of the 14th century) was an Indian philosopher and mathematician from the kingdom of Mithila. He established the Navya-Nyāya (“New Logic”) school. His Tattvacintāmaṇi (The Jewel of Thought on the Nature of Things), also known as Pramāṇacintāmaṇi...Read More

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (born Mahesh Prasad Varma, 12 January 1918 – 5 February 2008) was an Indian guru, known for developing the Transcendental Meditation technique and for being the leader and guru of a worldwide organization that has been characterized in multiple ways including as a new religious...Read More

Ānandavardhana (c. 820–890 CE) was the author of Dhvanyāloka, or A Light on Suggestion (dhvani), a work articulating the philosophy of “aesthetic suggestion” (dhvani, vyañjanā). The philosopher Abhinavagupta (c. 950 – 1016 CE) wrote an important commentary on it, the Locana, or...Read More

Krishna Chandra Bhattacharya, also known as K.C. Bhattacharya, (12 May 1875 – 11 December 1949) was a philosopher at the University of Calcutta known for his method of “constructive interpretation” through which relations and problematics of ancient Indian philosophical systems are drawn...Read More

Virachand Raghavji Gandhi (25 August 1864 – 7 August 1901) was a Jain scholar who represented Jainism at the first World Parliament of Religions in 1893. A barrister by profession, he worked to defend the rights of Jains, and wrote and lectured extensively on Jainism, other religions, and philosophy.

Ishvarakrishna was a famous numeric philosopher. Their era is disputed. According to Dr. Takakusu, his time should be around 450 AD and according to Dr. V. Smith should be around 240 AD. It is almost certain that he was a contemporary and antagonist of the guru of the Buddhist philosopher Vasubandhu. Ishvarakrishnika ‘Karika’ is the most ancient and popular treatise on Sankhya philosophy.

Pravahana Jaivali was a king of Panchala during the Late Vedic period (8th or 7th century BCE), mentioned in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (Vi.ii.9-13) and the Chandogya Upanishad (V.4-8). Like King Ajatashatru of Kashi and King Asvapati Kaikeya of Madra, he is depicted as a major Hindu philosopher-king....Read More

Jayarāśi Bhaṭṭa (fl. c. 800) was an Indian philosopher and the author of Tattvopaplavasiṃha (tattva-upa.plava-siṃha “The Lion that Devours All Categories”/”The Upsetting of All Principles”) in which he professed radical skepticism, which posits the impossibility of...Read More

Raghunatha Shiromani (c. 1477–1547) was an Indian philosopher and logician. He was born at Nabadwip in present-day Nadia district of West Bengal state. He was the grandson of Śulapāṇi (c. 14th century CE), a noted writer on Smṛti from his mother’s side. He was a pupil of Vāsudeva Sārvabhauma....Read More

Prabhākara (active c. 6th century) was an Indian philosopher-grammarian in the Mīmāṃsā tradition of Kerala. One of the views of the Prābhākaras is that words do not directly designate meaning; any meaning that arises is because it is connected with other words (anvitābhidhāna, anvita = connected;...Read More

Umaswati, also spelled as Umasvati and known as Umaswami, was an Indian scholar, possibly between 2nd-century and 5th-century CE, known for his foundational writings on Jainism. He authored the Jain text Tattvartha Sutra (literally ‘”All That Is”, also called Tattvarthadhigama Sutra)....Read More

Udayana, also known as Udayanācārya (Udyanacharya, or Master Udayana), was a very important Hindu logician of the tenth century who attempted to reconcile the views held by the two major schools of logic (Nyaya and Vaisheshika). This became the root of the Navya-Nyāya (“New Nyāya”)...Read More