SAMKHYA DARSHANA: THE TWENTY-FOUR TATTVAS AND AYURVEDIC CONCEPTS OF PURUSHA, PRAKRITI AND CREATION
Background: The Samkhya school provides the principal theory of creation used in Ayurvedic texts. The Charaka Samhita and the Sushruta Samhita describe the human being as a product of the evolution of prakriti and the association of purusha with it. Objective: To review the Samkhya doctrine of the twenty-four tattvas and the role of purusha, to compare it with the Ayurvedic account of the purusha (rashi purusha), and to discuss the clinical implications of the scheme. Methods: The Samkhya Karika and related classical texts were studied in translation with standard secondary sources. Classical Ayurvedic texts and PubMed-indexed literature on Samkhya, manas and Ayurveda were reviewed in November 2026. Results: Samkhya describes twenty-five principles including the conscious purusha and the unconscious prakriti. Charaka describes a body-mind-self complex built from twenty-four elements, with the twenty-fifth being purusha. Ayurveda adapts the scheme by treating the mind as the eleventh indriya and the doshas as functional expressions of the gunas and mahabhutas. Conclusion: The Samkhya model of evolution gives Ayurveda a theory of the person that connects cosmology, physiology and psychology. It remains useful as a conceptual map for the study of constitution, mind and disease.