MPPSC 2025 Prelims Paper-I · Question 66 of 100

Correct — C, Sankhya philosophy. Satkaryavada literally splits as sat (existent) + karya (effect): the effect already exists, in an unmanifest form, inside its material cause, so what we call 'production' is only the manifestation of something already present. This is the load-bearing premise of the entire Sankhya system. Sankhya uses it to argue that the whole visible universe must have pre-existed, unmanifest, in a single material cause — Prakriti — which then really transforms (parinama) into the twenty-three further evolutes, from mahat/buddhi down to the five gross elements. Its stock illustrations are exactly this: oil is already in the sesame seed, curd is already in the milk, the pot is already in the clay. Take satkaryavada away and Sankhya's whole evolutionary scheme of Prakriti collapses, which is why textbooks call it the 'main basis' of Sankhya.

• (a)Vaisheshika philosophy — Vaisheshika holds the opposite doctrine — asatkaryavada, in its arambhavada (new-beginning) form. On this view an effect is a genuinely new entity that did not exist before: atoms (paramanu) combine and the composite whole that results is different from the parts. Vaisheshika's defining contribution is its atomism and its list of categories (padarthas), not a pre-existent-effect theory.
• (b)Mimamsa philosophy — Purva Mimamsa, founded on Jaimini's sutras, is a school of ritual exegesis. Its defining basis is dharma as laid down by Vedic injunction, the eternal and authorless (apaurusheya) status of the Vedas, and the mechanism by which a sacrifice yields its fruit. A theory of causation is not what the school is built on.
• (d)Nyaya philosophy — Nyaya, from Gautama's Nyaya Sutra, is the school of logic and epistemology — its core is the means of valid knowledge (pramanas: perception, inference, comparison and verbal testimony) and the rules of debate and inference. On causation it sides with Vaisheshika's asatkaryavada, the direct rival of satkaryavada.

Indian philosophy splits on a single question: does an effect already exist in its cause? Satkaryavada says yes — the effect is latent in the cause and production merely makes it manifest; asatkaryavada (arambhavada) says no — the effect is a genuinely new beginning. Sankhya is the classic satkaryavada school, and reads it as parinamavada: Prakriti really transforms into the world. Advaita Vedanta also accepts satkaryavada but reads it as vivartavada — the transformation is only apparent, not real. Nyaya and Vaisheshika sit on the other side of the line.

All four options are orthodox (astika) darshanas, so elimination by 'which is even a real school' does not work here. The reliable route is to attach one signature doctrine to each school and recall it: Sankhya = satkaryavada plus the Purusha–Prakriti dualism; Yoga = Patanjali's eight limbs; Nyaya = pramanas and logic; Vaisheshika = atoms and categories; Mimamsa = Vedic ritual injunction and dharma; Vedanta = Brahman and the self. Once that map is fixed, this question is one step.

• Satkaryavada = sat (existent) + karya (effect): the effect pre-exists, unmanifest, in its material cause; production is manifestation, not fresh creation.
• Sankhya's standard illustrations: oil is already present in the sesame seed and curd in milk — oil can be pressed from a seed but never from sand.
• Sankhya's form of satkaryavada is parinamavada (real transformation of Prakriti); Advaita Vedanta accepts satkaryavada but as vivartavada (only apparent transformation).
• Sankhya is dualistic — Purusha (pure, inactive, plural consciousness) and Prakriti (the one material principle constituted by the three gunas: sattva, rajas and tamas), giving 25 tattvas in all.
• Sage Kapila is the traditional founder; the surviving foundational text is the Sankhya Karika of Ishvarakrishna.
• Nyaya and Vaisheshika hold the rival asatkaryavada / arambhavada — the effect is a new entity, not present beforehand in the cause.
• Sankhya and Yoga are paired in the six darshanas: Yoga accepts Sankhya's metaphysics and adds Ishvara and a practical eight-limbed discipline.

• Reading 'satkaryavada' as a Nyaya or Vaisheshika term because both are famous for causation debates — they hold the opposite view, asatkaryavada
• Assuming every satkaryavada school means the same thing: Sankhya says the transformation is real (parinamavada), Advaita says it is only apparent (vivartavada)
• Confusing classical Sankhya's non-theism with Yoga, which adds Ishvara to the same metaphysics

MPPSC asks it as a one-line doctrine-to-school tag ('X is the basis of which philosophy'). UPSC prefers statement-based framing — two claims about the Sankhya school, or a 'which pair does not belong to the six systems' question — so learn both the doctrine and the membership list of the shad-darshanas.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  In Sankhya philosophy, satkaryavada takes the specific form of:

  • (a)Vivartavada
  • (b)Parinamavada
  • (c)Arambhavada
  • (d)Kshanikavada

  Answer(b) Parinamavada — Sankhya holds that Prakriti undergoes a real transformation into the world; Advaita's vivartavada calls that transformation only apparent.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The three gunas — sattva, rajas and tamas — are, in Sankhya, the constituents of:

  • (a)Purusha
  • (b)Prakriti
  • (c)Both Purusha and Prakriti
  • (d)Neither Purusha nor Prakriti

  Answer(b) Prakriti — Purusha is pure, inactive consciousness with no gunas; the gunas belong to Prakriti and their disturbance sets evolution going.