ShodhPatra: International Journal of Science and Humanities

Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay’s Critique and Appreciation of Sāṃkhya Philosophy

The essay on Sāṃkhya philosophy by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay is an important contribution to modern Indian philosophical thought during the nineteenth-century Bengali Renaissance. In this work, Bankim presents the philosophy of Kapila as one of the most rational and ancient systems of Indian philosophy. He explains the fundamental concepts of Purusha and Prakriti, and the evolutionary process through which the universe emerges from the imbalance of the three gunas. At the same time, Bankim critically examines Sāṃkhya, arguing that its emphasis on liberation through knowledge and its indifference to devotion and action encouraged an overly other-worldly outlook in society. To overcome this limitation, he interprets Sāṃkhya in relation to the ethical teachings of the Bhagavad Gita, emphasizing the ideal of Karma-Yoga. Later thinkers such as Swami Vivekananda and Sri Aurobindo further reinterpreted Sāṃkhya ideas within modern spiritual and philosophical contexts.