Place
Varanasi
One of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. Sacred to Hindus, Buddhists, and Jains. The intellectual center of classical Indian philosophy.
Thinkers Connected to Varanasi
Kapila
The sage credited with Samkhya, the oldest of India's systems, which split reality into spirit and matter.
Badarayana
He gathered the teachings of the Upanishads into the threads that became Vedanta, India's most enduring philosophy.
Jaimini
He built a whole philosophy around action and the authority of the word, asking what it means for a duty to bind.
Ashvaghosha
The first great Sanskrit poet, who told the Buddha's life as an epic and made philosophy sing.