Surendranath Dasgupta

Surendranath Dasgupta was an Indian philosopher and historian of Indian philosophy, best known for his five-volume work A History of Indian Philosophy. He also wrote on yoga, aesthetics, and Western philosophy.

Connect

Indian philosophy: A diverse body of philosophical traditions that developed in the Indian subcontinent. Dasgupta organized his major history around the arguments and development of these traditions.
A History of Indian Philosophy: Surendranath Dasgupta’s five-volume historical survey of Indian philosophical traditions. This is the work most closely associated with his name and scholarly legacy.
George Thibaut: A German-born scholar of Sanskrit and Indian philosophy who worked in India. His scholarship belongs to the earlier European Indological tradition with which Dasgupta’s history engaged.
Comparative philosophy: The study of philosophical ideas and arguments across different cultural and intellectual traditions. Dasgupta’s histories place Indian traditions in relation to philosophical thought beyond India.
Sanskrit: An Indo-Aryan language used extensively in classical Indian literature, philosophy, and religious texts. His scholarship drew on Sanskrit sources central to the traditions he documented.
Yoga Philosophy: A philosophical study by Dasgupta of yoga’s theories and historical development. The book applies his historical and interpretive approach to yoga as a distinct subject.
Paul Deussen: A German philosopher and Indologist known for studies of Vedanta and Indian philosophy. Dasgupta’s historical project can be read alongside Deussen’s influential European account of Indian thought.
Orientalism: A tradition of Western scholarship and representation concerning Asia, especially the Middle East and South Asia. His work emerged amid debates over who interprets Indian texts and how historical narratives frame them.
Vedanta: A family of Indian philosophical traditions drawing chiefly on the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, and the Brahma Sutras. Its major schools receive sustained treatment in his account of Indian philosophy.
Aesthetic Enjoyment: A philosophical study by Dasgupta of aesthetic experience and its relation to Indian thought. It reveals a strand of his work beyond the history of philosophical schools.