Sāmkhya-Nāśaka Madhava

Summary

Sāṃkhya‑Nāśaka Madhava is an exploration of a heterodox Sāṃkhya thinker whose doctrines attracted criticism from Buddhist and Nyāya scholars. Esther A. Solomon collates fragments from Dinnāga’s Pramāṇasamuccaya and Jinendrabuddhi’s commentary to reconstruct Madhava’s ideas. Buddhist sources refer to him as Sāṃkhya‑nāśaka (“destroyer of Sāṃkhya”) or Sāṃkhya‑nāyaka (“leader of the Sāṃkhya”), suggesting that he was either an unfaithful expositor or a major exponent. Madhava proposed multiple pradhānas, diverging from the classical Sāṃkhya view of a single primordial matter. He taught that each sense organ corresponds to a distinct class of atoms composed of specific arrangements of the three guṇas; sound‑atoms differ from touch‑atoms, and senses can apprehend only their own objects. Dinnāga criticises this, noting that a strict separation of guṇa configurations implies an infinite number of senses, but concedes that Madhava’s account explains the specificity of perception better than orthodox Sāṃkhya. Solomon analyses Madhava’s theory of evolution, in which pradhānas possess parts and evolve under the impetus of beginningless karma; she notes that this aligns him more closely with Vaiśeṣika atomism than with traditional Sāṃkhya. Quotations reveal that Madhava treated every atom as containing all three guṇas, with perceptible qualities arising from their configurations. Solomon also highlights Madhava’s impact: his proposals forced later philosophers to articulate more clearly the relationship between atoms, senses and objects. By charting the reception of Madhava’s ideas in Buddhist and Jain texts, she demonstrates the permeability of doctrinal boundaries in classical India and the dynamic nature of metaphysical debate.