Ancient Indian philosophers

Indian philosopher and the founder of Buddhism (623 or 563 BCE – 543 or 483 BCE)

Vyasa (; , ) is a rishi (sage) with a prominent role in most Hindu traditions. He is also known as Veda Vyasa (, ) or Krishna Dvaipayana (, ). Traditionally regarded as the author of the epic Mahābhārata, Vyasa also plays a prominent role as a character. He is also regarded by the Hindu traditions to be the compiler of the mantras of the Vedas into four texts, as well as the author of the eighteen Purāṇas and the Brahma Sutras.

Ramanuja ('; Middle Tamil: Rāmāṉujam; Classical Sanskrit: Rāmānuja; 1077 – 1157, trad. date 1017-1137), also known as Ramanujacharya''', was an Indian Hindu philosopher, guru and social reformer. He is one of the most important exponents of the Sri Vaishnavism tradition in Hinduism. His philosophical foundations for devotional practice were influential in the Bhakti movement.

thumb|center|acharya Kaṇāda

Vātsyāyana (Sanskrit : वात्स्यायन) was an ancient Indian philosopher, known for authoring the Kama Sutra. He lived in India during the second or third century CE, probably in Pataliputra (modern day Patna in Bihar).

Kapila () (7th-6th-century BCE), also referred to as Cakradhanus, is a Vedic sage in Hindu tradition, regarded the founder of the Samkhya school of Hindu philosophy.

Gauḍapāda (Sanskrit: गौडपाद; ), also referred as Gauḍapādācārya (Sanskrit: गौडपादाचार्य; "Gauḍapāda the Teacher"), was an early medieval era Hindu philosopher and scholar of the Advaita Vedanta school of Hindu philosophy. While details of his biography are uncertain, his ideas inspired others such as Adi Shankara who called him a Paramaguru (highest teacher).

Yajnavalkya or Yagyavalkya (, IAST:) is a Hindu Vedic sage prominently mentioned in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (c. 700 BCE) and Tattiriya Upanishad. Yajnavalkya proposes and debates metaphysical questions about the nature of existence, consciousness and impermanence, and expounds the epistemic doctrine of neti neti ("not this, not this") to discover the universal Self and Ātman. Texts attributed to him include the Yajnavalkya Smriti, Yoga Yajnavalkya and some texts of the Vedanta school. He is also mentioned in the Mahabharata as well as various Puranas, Brahmanas and Aranyakas.

ancient Indian philosopher

Parashara (Sanskrit: पराशर; IAST: ) was a maharishi and the author of many ancient Hindu texts. He is accredited as the author of the first Purana, the Vishnu Purana, before his son Vyasa wrote it in its present form. He was the grandson of the sage Vasishtha and the son of the sage Shakti. There are several texts which give reference to Parashara as an author/speaker. The various texts attributed to him are given in reference to Parashara being the speaker to his student.

Ashtavakra (, ) is a revered Vedic sage in Hinduism. His maternal grandfather was the Vedic sage Aruni, his parents were both Vedic students at Aruni's school. Ashtavakra studied, became a sage and a celebrated character of the Hindu Itihasa epics and Puranas.

Maitreyi (fl. 8th century BCE) was an Indian philosopher who lived during the later Vedic period in ancient India. She is mentioned in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad as one of two wives of the Vedic sage Yajnavalkya. In the Hindu epic Mahabharata and the Gṛhyasūtras, however, Maitreyi is described as an Advaita philosopher who never married. In ancient Sanskrit literature, she is known as a brahmavadini (an expounder of the Veda).

Kalanos, also spelled Calanus () ( – 323 BCE), was an ancient Indian gymnosophist, a Brahmin sage , and philosopher from Taxila who accompanied Alexander the Great and was his teacher. He accompanied Alexander the Great to Persis and, after falling ill, immolated himself by entering a pyre in front of Alexander's army. Diodorus Siculus called him Caranus ().

thumb|Alexander meets the Gymnosophists. [[Great Mongol Shahnameh, c. 1335. Arthur M. Sackler Gallery]] Gymnosophists (, gymnosophistaí, i.e. "naked philosophers" or "naked wise men" (from Greek γυμνός gymnós "naked" and σοφία sophía "wisdom")) were ancient Indian philosophers who pursued asceticism to the point of regarding food and clothing as detrimental to purity of thought. They are mentioned several times in Ancient Greek literature.

Lopamudra, also known as Kaveri, Kaushitaki and Varaprada, was a philosopher according to ancient Vedic Indian literature. She was the wife of the sage Agastya who is believed to have lived in the Rigveda period (1950 BC-1100 BC) as many hymns have been attributed as her contribution to this Veda. She was not only the consort of Agastya but a Rishiki in her own right, as she was the well known Rishiki who visualized the "Hadi Panchadasi" mantra of the Srikul Shakta tradition of Hinduism. She was one of the prominent Brahmavadinis. There are three versions of Lopamudra's legend; one is in the

teacher of yogic meditation and second teacher of Gautama Buddha

Vedic sage

thumb|300px|Asoka|Aśoka and Moggaliputtatissa at the Third Council, at the Nava Jetavana, Shravasti

teacher of yogic meditation and first teacher of Gautama Buddha

Nammalvar was one of the twelve Alvar saints of Tamil Nadu, India, who are known for their affiliation to the Vaishnava tradition of Hinduism. The verses of the Alvars are compiled as the Naalayira Divya Prabandham, where praises are sung of 108 temples that are classified as divine realms, called the Divya Desams. Nammalvar is considered to be the fifth in the line of the twelve Alvars. He is highly regarded as a great mystic of the Vaishnava tradition. He is also considered to be the foremost among the twelve Alvars, and his contributions amount to 1352 among the 4000 stanzas in the Naalayir

''' (also ') is a commentator on Jaimini's Purva Mimamsa Sutras, the Śābara-bhāṣyam, in turn commented upon by Kumarila Bhatta.

Kapilar or Kabilar (Tamil: கபிலர்) was the most prolific Tamil poet of the Sangam period (c. 3rd century BCE to 3rd century CE). He contributed 206 poems, or a little less than 10% of the entire Sangam-era classical corpus by 473 ancient poets. Held in high regard by other poets of the Sangam era, as well as the post-Sangam era, he is variously dated to have lived between c. 50–125 CE, or 140–200 CE.

thumb|upright=0.85|Title page of the Latin edition of The Fables of Syntipas, 1781 Syntipas is the purported author of the Seven Wise Masters, a cycle of stories of Indian and Persian origin popular in medieval literature. He first appears in Arabic renditions as an Indian philosopher who lived around 100 BC.

Zarmanochegas (; according to Strabo) or Zarmarus (according to Dio Cassius) was a gymnosophist (naked philosopher), a monk of the Sramana tradition (possibly, but not necessarily a Buddhist) who, according to ancient historians such as Strabo and Dio Cassius, met Nicholas of Damascus in Antioch in the first years of Augustus' rule over the Roman Empire, and shortly thereafter proceeded to Athens where he burnt himself to death. He is estimated to have died in 19 BC.