Mok���adharma and pre-ved��nta philosophy

The present text is the first translation into English of some fragments of the Mokṣadharma Parvan. The Mokṣadharma inserted within the twelfth book of the Sanskrit epic The Mahābhārata configures one of the first sources of legitimization for the emerging doctrines among which are the sāṃkhya yoga as well as the vedānta in ancient India. The present work exposes some mentions where the First Principle is described as the neutral entity brahman spirit or puruṣa matter or prakṛti the imperishable or akṣara as well as the unmanifest or avyakta. These notions come close in their philosophical sense to the acceptance of a personalized God and the birth of bhakti or devotion towards the god Nārāyaṇa. The study conducted finds that the conceptual variants present in the Mokṣadharma legitimized the doctrinal tenets of important philosophical schools in ancient India including classical vedānta.