There are six philosophical systems in Hinduism: Sankhya, Yoga, Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Mimamsa and Vedanta.
What is each school's opinion on Puranas? Do they accept the puranas as authentic or they reject or don't comment on them?
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1Vedanta accepts them, Mimamsa reject them or treat them as Arthavadas(meaningless statements)– Spark SunshineApr 22, 2019 at 4:05
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Interesting, could you elaborate more on Mimamsa views on Puranas @SparkSunshine– Sethu Srivatsa KoduruOct 23 at 8:49
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1 Answer
Vedanta: PURĀNAS are only Accepted as Fully Authoritative by VEDANTA school of Thought.
Vaishnava Vedanta Schools are built on Purānas itself. Vishnu and Bhāgavatam are the most Important Purānas for them. For Shaktism it’s Devi Bhāgavatam. Puranic Shaiva Vedanta Schools accept Shaiva Purānas are the ultimate Supreme Purānas. Smartha Advaita Vedanta Sect also accepts all Purānas as well as Upa-Purānas. (Modern Neo Advaita doesn’t care about Puranas though).
Mimamsa rejects them as meaningless.
Nyaya, Vaisheshika and Navya Nyaya doesn’t care about Puranas as their philosophies aren’t built up on them. They don’t view them as authoritative.
Classical Samkhya and Yoga too do not care about Puranas as their philosophies aren’t built up on them (though Purānas mention many philosophical discourses on Samkhya and Yoga. But note: Puranic Samkhya and Classical Samkhya of Isvara Krishna are different).
Conclusion: Only Vedanta School of Thought accepts them as fully authoritative next to Vedas.
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Please add references to support your answer. Check this out hinduism.stackexchange.com/help/how-to-answer– BingmingJan 28 at 3:56
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1Firstly, Mīmāṁsā doesn't take the Purāṇas as meaningless, check adhyāya 1, pada 3 of Mīmāṁsā sūtras along with Kumārila and Śabara's commentary, it discusses the authority of smr̥ti including Purāṇas and dharmaśāstras such as Manusmr̥ti. Also, Nyāya doesn't explicitly reject Purāṇas either, check Vātsyāyana's bhāṣya [253.16-254.8] on Nyāya Sūtra and Vācaspati's Tātparya Ṭīkā (601.1-10) on Nyāya sūtras where both explain how Purāṇas and dharmaśāstras are valid sources of knowledge.– BingmingJan 28 at 4:01
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Yeah but think from a rational perspective. Purānas don’t support Nyaya but Vedanta. Vācaspati's Comments are invalid since he was actually a Vedantin. It’s obvious he’d accept Purānas and smritis. Moreover both Vātsyāyana's and Vācaspati's comments on “accepting” the Puranas as valid sources of knowledge as per Nyaya are absurd since the Puranas support Vedanta Philosophy and have nothing to do with Nyaya Philosophy. If you think Purānas support Nyaya Philosophy please provide references from Purānas. I’m not talking through their commentary perspective but a rational perspective.– Agent KFeb 4 at 14:08
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Purānas give detailed explanation of Vedanta, Samkhya, Yoga. However they’re all contradictory to Nyaya Vaisheshika. It is absurd for Nyaya Philosophers to accept Purānas because then they’d obviously be believing in a text which is against their philosophy. I’m sure there are historical and social reasons why they wrote this. But if you think form a rational perspective, you’d know it doesn’t make sense.– Agent KFeb 4 at 14:11
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I didn't say they support always, Nyāya takes Veda as the foremost. I just said that Nyāya does assert that the Purāṇas are proper sources of knowledge. Also, it's clearly discussed, that the knowledge-source status varies according to topic, because the texts are organized according to topical differences. Now you are busy saying that Vātsyāyana and others are incorrect, since you yourself reject the commentaries of most of the Naiyāyikas without reading them properly , there is no use in talking. FYI, Uddyotkara followed Vātsyāyana too in this issue. And both of these are not Vedāntins.– BingmingFeb 4 at 20:48