() was an ancient Indian philosopher. He wrote the PadÃÂrtha-dharma-saá¹ graha (Collection of Properties of Matter) and a commentary, titled Praà ÂastapÃÂda BhÃÂá¹£ya, on the Vaisheshika Sutras of Kanada (circa 2nd century BCE); both texts are comprehensive books in physics. In these texts Prashastapada discusses the properties of motion. Ganganath Jha had translated Praà ÂastapÃÂda BhÃÂá¹£ya which was published in 1916. Prashasta or Praà Âasta (Sanskrit: à ¤ªà ¥Âà ¤°à ¤¶à ¤¸à ¥Âà ¤¤) means praised or praiseworthy, lauded or laudable, commended or commendable or eulogized.
Dayananda Saraswati writes that the Sutras of KanÃÂda and PadÃÂrthadharmasaá¹ graha of Praà ÂastapÃÂda do not show much influence of the Nyaya System. Praà ÂastapÃÂda BhÃÂá¹£ya is actually not a commentary but an independent compendium of the tenets of the Vaisheshika School. Udayanacharya of the Navya-NyÃÂya School, the author of Laká¹£aá¹ÂÃÂvalë which gives the definitions of Vaià Âeá¹£ika terms, and NyÃÂya Kusumanjali which is a systematic account of Nyaya Theism, who also belonged to Mithila, had written Kiranavali which is a commentary on Praà ÂastapÃÂda BhÃÂá¹£ya.
Praà ÂastapÃÂda can be tentatively dated to the second half of the 6th century C.E. The Vaià Âeá¹£ika philosophy recognizes twenty-four gunas or qualities that are inherent in substances; these include seventeen gunas listed by Kanada and seven gunas â gurutva (heaviness), dravatva (fluidity), sneha (viscidity), dharma (merit), adharma (demerit), shabda (sound) and samskara (faculty) - added by Praà ÂastapÃÂda. Vyomavati of Vyomaà Âekhara, Nyayakandali of Shridhara, Kiranavali of Udayana and Lilavati of à Ârëvatsa are well known commentaries on his works.
Praà ÂastapÃÂda refers to a type of perception that is the simple intuition (alochana) of the proper form (svarupa) of an entity, which is the apprehension of an undifferentiated (avibhktam) whole arising from cognition of its specific universals. This is the preliminary stage. He differs from DignÃÂga for whom the determinates of cognitions are subjective constructs imposed upon the given, and constructive cognition is not a perception; Praà ÂastapÃÂda, who was a realist, avers that the determinates are objective constituents of reality and their conceptual co-relates are not inter-subjective fictions. Praà ÂastapÃÂda by redefining substance as per se a possessor of attributes opened new turf by separating the cosmological from the logical dimensions of concepts. His commentary overshadowed the Vaisheshika Sutras and became the main vehicle for later commentaries. Praà ÂastapÃÂda describes the dissolution of the earth, water, air and fire in terms of their atomic constituents but excludes space because space is non-atomic. With regard to the conjoining and disjoining of atoms he includes a higher will or order as the guiding principle of universal dissolution which over-rides the natural karma of atoms.
Kaá¹ÂÃÂda does not directly refer to Ishvara (God) but Praà ÂastapÃÂda sees Ishvara as the cause of the universe but does not explain how God creates.