Āstika (Sanskrit: आस्तिक āstika; "it exists") and Nāstika (नास्तिक, nāstika; "it doesn't exist") are technical terms in Hinduism used to classify philosophical schools and persons, according to whether they accept the authority of the Vedas as supreme revealed scriptures, or not, respectively.^[1] By this definition, Nyāyá, Vaiśeṣika,Sāṃkhya, Yoga, Mīmāṃsā and Vedānta are classified as āstika schools; and some schools like Cārvāka, Ājīvika, Jainism and Buddhism are considered nāstika.^[2] The distinction is similar to the orthodox/heterodox distinction in the West.

In non-technical usage, the term āstika is sometimes loosely translated as "theist", while nāstika is translated as "atheist".^[3] However, this interpretation is distinct from the use of the term in Hindu philosophy. Notably even among the āstika schools,Sāṃkhya is an atheistic philosophy.^[4]

The different usages of these terms are explained by Chatterjee and Datta as follows:

In modern Indian languages, "āstika" and "nāstika" generally mean "theist" and "atheist", respectively. But in Sanskrit philosophical literature, "āstika" means "one who believes in the authority of the Vedas". ("nāstika" means the opposite of these). The word is used here in the first sense. The six orthodox schools are "āstika", and the Cārvāka is "nāstika" in both the senses.^[5]

Āstika Schools[hide] Samkhya Yoga Nyaya Vaisheshika Mīmāṃsā Vedanta  Advaita Vedanta Vishishtadvaita Dvaita Dvaitadvaita Achintya Bheda Abheda Bhedabheda Shaiva Pratyabhijña Pashupata Siddhanta Tantra

Nāstika Schools[hide] Cārvāka Ājīvika Jainism Buddhism

Personalities[hide] Philosophers-Acharyas Samkhya Kapila Yoga Patanjali Nyaya Akṣapāda Gotama Jayanta Bhatta Raghunatha Siromani Vaiseshika Kanada Mimamsa Jaimini Kumārila Bhaṭṭa Prabhākara Dayananda Saraswati (Arsha Vidya) Advaita Vedanta Gaudapada Adi Shankara Vācaspati Miśra Vidyaranya Sadananda Madhusūdana Sarasvatī Ramakrishna Swami Vivekananda Ramana Maharshi Siddharudha Swami Narayana Guru Sivananda Saraswati Chinmayananda Saraswati Nisargadatta Maharaj Dayanand Saraswati Nigamananda Paramahansa Vishishta-Advaita Nammalvar Alvars Yamunacharya Ramanuja Vedanta Desika Pillai Lokacharya Manavala Mamunigal Lakshmi Kumara Thathachariar Dvaita Madhvacharya Jayatirtha Vyasatirtha Sripadaraja Vadirajatirtha Raghavendra Swami Dvaita-Advaita Nimbarka Shuddha-Advaita Vallabha Acharya Achintya-Bhedabheda Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Jiva Goswami Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Prabhupada Tantra / Shakta Abhinavagupta Nigamananda Paramahansa Ramprasad Sen Kamalakanta Bhattacharya Bamakhepa Anandamayi Ma Poet-Saints Purandara Dasa Kanaka Dasa Jagannatha Dasa Vijaya Dasa Gopala Dasa Basava Dnyaneshwar Sankardev Jayadeva Namdev Ramananda Kabir Tulsidas Guru Ravidass Mira Bai Narsinh Mehta Surdas Samarth Ramdas Tukaram Eknath Janabai Brahmanand Swami Tukdoji Maharaj Tyagaraja Annamacharya Kancherla Gopanna Nayanars Muthuswami Dikshitar Syama Sastri Yoga-Guru Nigamananda Paramahansa Integral-Yoga Sri Aurobindo Kriya-Yoga Paramahansa Yogananda Academician-Philosophers Ananda Coomaraswamy Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan Swami Gahanananda Ravi Shankar

Etymology[edit]

Āstika (IAST: āstika) is a Sanskrit adjective (and noun) that is derived from asti ("it is or exists")^[6] meaning "believing" or "pious";^[7]or "one who believes in the existence ."^[6] Nāstika (na (not) + āstika) is its negative, literally meaning "not believing" or "not pious". As used in Hindu philosophy the differentiation between āstika and nāstika refers to belief in Vedic authority, not belief or lack of belief in theism. As N. N. Bhattacharyya writes:

The followers of Tantra are often branded as Nāstika by the upholders of the Vedic tradition. The term Nāstika does not denote an atheist. It is applied only to those who do not believe in the Vedas. The Sāṃkhyas and Mīmāṃsakas do not believe in God, but they believe in the Vedas and hence they are not Nāstikas. The Buddhists, Jains, and Cārvākas do not believe in the Vedas; hence they are Nāstikas.

—^[8]

Classification of schools[edit]

Āstika[edit]

Several Indian intellectual traditions were codified during the medieval period into a standard list of six orthodox systems orṣaḍdarśanas, all of which cite Vedic authority as their source.^[9] Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Samkhya, Yoga, Mimāṃsā and Vedanta are classified as āstika schools:

1. Nyāyá, the school of logic
2. Vaiśeṣika, the atomist school
3. Sāṃkhya, the enumeration school
4. Yoga, the school of Patañjali (which assumes the metaphysics of Sāṃkhya)
5. Mimāṃsā, the tradition of Vedic exegesis
6. Vedanta or Uttara Mimāṃsā, the Upaniṣadic tradition.

These are often coupled into three groups for both historical and conceptual reasons: Nyāyá-Vaiśeṣika, Sāṃkhya-Yoga, and Mimāṃsā-Vedanta.

Nāstika[edit]

The main schools of Indian philosophy that do not base their beliefs on the Vedas were regarded as heterodox by Brahmins:

1. Buddhism
2. Jainism
3. Cārvāka
4. Ājīvika