Biographies

The Nyāya Sūtras is an ancient Indian Sanskrit text composed by Akṣapāda Gautama, and the foundational text of the Nyaya school of Hindu philosophy. The date when the text was composed, and the biography of its author is unknown, but variously estimated between 6th-century BCE and 2nd-century CE. The text may have been composed by more than one author, over a period of time. The text consists of five books, with two chapters in each book, with a cumulative total of 528 aphoristic sutras, about rules of reason, logic, epistemology and metaphysics....

Haridasa Thakur (IAST Haridāsa) (born 1451 or 1450) was a prominent Vaishnava saint known for being instrumental in the initial propagation of the Hare Krishna movement. He is considered to be the most famous convert of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, apart from Rupa Goswami and Sanatana Goswami. His story of integrity and unflinching faith in the face of extreme adversity is told in Chaitanya Charitamrita, Antya lila. It is believed that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu himself designated Haridasa as nāmācarya, meaning the ’teacher of the Name’....

Jagannatha Dasa (Kannada: ಜಗನ್ನಾಥ ದಾಸ) (1728–1809), a native of Manvi town in the Raichur district, Karnataka state, India,is a disciple of Madhvacharya and is considered one of the notable Haridasa of Dvaita Vedanta of Madhva (“devotee of the Hindu god Vishnu”) saint-poets of the Kannada language. Apart from authoring numerous well-known devotional songs that propagate the Vaishnava bhakti (“faith”) of Dvaita Vedanta of Madhvacharya, Jagannatha Dasa wrote the Harikathamritasara in the native shatpadi (six-line verse) metre and Tattva suvali in the native tripadi (three-line verse) metre....

Jagadish “Jaggi” Vasudev (born 3 September 1957), known by the honorific title Sadhguru, is an Indian yoga guru and proponent of spirituality. He has been teaching yoga in southern India since 1982. In 1992 he established the Isha Foundation near Coimbatore, which operates an ashram and yoga centre that carry out educational activities. Vasudev is the author of several books and a frequent speaker at international forums. In 2017, he received the Padma Vibhushan, India’s second-highest civilian award, for his contributions to social welfare....

Jaimini was an ancient Indian scholar who founded the Mīmāṃsā school of Hindu philosophy. He was a disciple of sage Veda Vyasa, the son of Parashara. Traditionally attributed to be the author of the Mimamsa Sutras and Jaimini Sutras, he is estimated to have lived around the 4th-century BCE. His school is considered non-theistic, but one that emphasized rituals parts of the Vedas as essential to Dharma. Jaimini’s guru was Badarayana, the latter founded the Vedanta school of Hindu philosophy, emphasizing the knowledge parts of the Vedas, and credited with authoring Brahma Sutras....

According to Hindu legends, Jamadagni (or Jamdagni , Sanskrit: जमदग्नि महार; Pali: Yamataggi) is one of the Saptarishi (Seven Great Sages Rishi) in the seventh, current Manvantara. He is the father of Parashurama, the sixth incarnation of Vishnu. He was a descendant of the sage Bhrigu, one of the Prajapatis created by Brahma, the God of Creation. Jamadagni had five children with wife Renuka, the youngest of whom was Parashurama, an avatar of Lord Vishnu....

Jayanta Bhatta (c. 820 CE - c. 900 CE) was a Kashmiri poet, teacher, logician, and an advisor to King Sankaravarman. He was a philosopher of the Nyaya school of Hindu philosophy. He authored three works on Nyāya philosophy: one of which is not known, an allegorical drama, and a commentary on Pāṇinian grammar.

Jiddu Krishnamurti (/ˈdʒɪduːkrɪʃnəˈmuːrti/; 12 May 1895 – 17 February 1986) was an Indian philosopher, speaker and writer. In his early life, he was groomed to be the new World Teacher, but later rejected this mantle and withdrew from the Theosophy organization behind it. His interests included psychological revolution, the nature of mind, meditation, inquiry, human relationships, and bringing about radical change in society. He stressed the need for a revolution in the psyche of every human being and emphasised that such revolution cannot be brought about by any external entity, be it religious, political, or social....

Sant Dnyaneshwar (Marathi pronunciation: [d̪ɲaːn̪eʃʋəɾ]), also referred to as Jnaneshwar, Jnanadeva, Dnyandev or Mauli or Dnyaneshwar Vitthal Kulkarni (1275–1296), was a 13th-century Indian Marathi saint, poet, philosopher and yogi of the Nath Vaishnava tradition. In his short life of 21 years, he authored Dnyaneshwari (a commentary on the Bhagavad Gita) and Amrutanubhav. These are the oldest surviving literary works in the Marathi language, under the patronage of the Yadava dynasty of Devagiri, and these are considered to be milestones in Marathi literature....

Kabir Das (IAST: Kabīr, Hindustani pronunciation: [kəbiːr d̪aːs]; 1398/1440 – 1448/1518) was a 15th-century Indian mystic poet and saint, whose writings influenced Hinduism’s Bhakti movement and his verses are found in Sikhism’s scripture Guru Granth Sahib. Born in the city of Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, he is known for being critical of both organized religion and religions. He questioned meaningless and unethical practices of all religions primarily the wrong practices in Hindu and Muslim religion....

Kanada (Sanskrit: कणाद, romanized: Kaṇāda), also known as Kashyapa, Ulūka, Kananda and Kanabhuk, was an ancient Indian natural scientist and philosopher who founded the Vaisheshika school of Indian philosophy that also represents the earliest Indian physics. Estimated to have lived sometime between 6th century to 2nd century BCE, little is known about his life. His traditional name “Kanada” means “atom eater”, and he is known for developing the foundations of an atomistic approach to physics and philosophy in the Sanskrit text Vaiśeṣika Sūtra....

Kanaka Dasa (1509 – 1609) was a Haridasa, a renowned composer of Carnatic music, poet, philosopher and musician. He is known for his keertanas and ugabhoga, compositions in the Kannada language for Carnatic music. Like other Haridasas, he used simple Kannada language and native metrical forms for his compositions. Kanakadasa Jayanti is celebrated on the commemoration to their great poet, saint, philosopher, composer and musician.

Kapila (Sanskrit: कपिल) Rishi (sage) was the 10th child of sage Kardam and Devbhuti. As per Vedas, Kardam was provided a boon by Lord Narayan that he would himself be born as his son, attaining which Kardam had decided to leave for the forest for penance and research on vedic studies. Kardam had 9 daughters who were very learned and went ahead to marry great sages. Kapila was then born into great knowledge and wisdom....

Kashyap (Sanskrit: कश्यप, IAST: Kaśyapa) is a revered Vedic sage of Hinduism. He is one of the Saptarishis, the seven ancient sages of the Rigveda, as well as numerous other Sanskrit texts and Indian Religious books. He is the most ancient Rishi listed in the colophon verse in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. Kashyap is a common ancient name, referring to many different personalities in the ancient Hindu and Buddhist texts.

Swami Krishnananda Saraswati (25 April 1922 – 23 November 2001) was a disciple of Sivananda Saraswati and served as the General Secretary of the Divine Life Society in Rishikesh, India from 1958 until 2001. Author of more than 40 texts, and lecturing extensively, on yoga, religion, and metaphysics, Krishnananda was a prolific theologian, saint, yogi and philosopher. Krishnananda was President of the Sivananda Literature Research Institute and the Sivananda Literature Dissemination Committee....