Editing Indian religions (section)

== ''Āstika'' and ''nāstika'' categorisation ==
{{Main|Āstika and nāstika|Hindu philosophy|Buddhism and Hinduism}}
{{See also|Adi Shankara|Charvaka}}

''Āstika'' and ''nāstika'' are variously defined terms sometimes used to categorise Indian religions but we need to keep some caveats in mind. 

Satoshi Ogura argues - We have found no Sanskrit doxography completed up to the end of the sixteenth century that distinguishes only Nyāya, Vaiśeṣika, Sāṃkhya, Yoga, Mīmāṃsā, and Vedānta as orthodox systems that acknowledge the revelation of the Vedas. To put it mildly, such a categorization was not mainstream in Indian philosophy.

In her dissertation dealing with the works by the Mughal prince Dārā Shukūh, Supriya Gandhi has, in contrast, asserted that Roy rather inherited religious discourses in early modern Persian literature in writing his treatises on religions, noting the similarity of Roy's word-usage to that of Dārā. We can say that the case of ṣaḍdarśana shares a common feature with that of Roy's thought, i.e., that a “traditional” Indic concept that has been discussed as a Western or colonial invention had probably sprouted in the late medieval or early modern cosmopolitan culture on the subcontinent before the time of Western impact. We thus should keep in mind the tendency of classification of Indic knowledge in Persianate discourses and its legacies in modern writings in both India and the Western world.<ref>Satoshi Ogura (2024), The Ā’īn-i Akbarī and Western Indology: with Special Reference to the Category of the Six Systems of Philosophy, Journal of Asian and African Studies, Supplement, No. 3, 2024: https://tufs.repo.nii.ac.jp/record/2000328/files/jaas-supp003008.pdf</ref>

The traditional definition, followed by [[Adi Shankara]], classifies religions and persons as ''āstika'' and ''nāstika'' according to whether they accept the authority of the main Hindu texts, the Vedas, as supreme revealed scriptures, or not. By this definition, [[Nyaya]], [[Vaisheshika]], [[Samkhya]], [[Yoga]], [[Purva Mimamsa]] and [[Vedanta]] are classified as ''āstika'' schools, while [[Charvaka]] is classified as a ''nāstika'' school. Buddhism and Jainism are also thus classified as ''nāstika'' religions since they do not accept the authority of the Vedas.{{Citation needed|date=June 2023}}

Another set of definitions—notably distinct from the usage of Hindu philosophy—loosely characterise ''āstika'' as "[[theist]]" and ''nāstika'' as "[[atheist]]". By these definitions, ''Sāṃkhya'' can be considered a ''nāstika'' philosophy, though it is traditionally classed among the Vedic ''āstika'' schools. From this point of view, Buddhism and Jainism remain ''nāstika'' religions.{{Citation needed|date=June 2023}}

Buddhists and Jains have disagreed that they are nastika and have redefined the phrases āstika and nāstika in their own view. Jains assign the term nastika to one who is ignorant of the meaning of the religious texts,<ref>Page i, ''Forms of Indian Philosophical Literature and Other Papers'' by V.S. Kambi</ref> or those who deny the existence of the soul was well known to the Jainas.<ref>P. 163 ''Mahāvīra: His Life and Teachings'' by Bimala Churn Law</ref>