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Kanaada

Sage Kanaad is regarded as the propounder of the Vaisesika Darsana, the atomistic philosophy. He began his Vaisesika Sutra by stating that he begins by expounding the Dharma, defining Dharma as that by which we rise to prosperity and happiness ( Abhyudaya ), and get to achieve the final release or Beatitude ( Nihsreyas ) and observing that the source and proof of that Dharma is Veda. Kanaad classified the essences ( the basic elements or principles ) in to six categories of Padartha ( concepts of explanation ) as : Dravya ( substance ), Guna ( quality ), Karma ( Action ), Samanya ( generality ), Visesa ( speciality ) and Samavaya ( inference ). Later, after commentaries of Prashastapad and others on the Sutras, Shivaditya added one more category that of Abbava ( non-being ) possibly following Prashastapad and wrote his Saptapadarthi. This philosophy is known for its Atomism and action-related scientific analysis.

The author of the vaisesika-darsana (Kanaada) slightly differed in opinion by assigning the supreme position to the "combination of atoms".

See article on Darshanas.