This introduction to thinkers, texts, and themes in Indian philosophy covers sources ranging across roughly 2,000 years.

The guide helps readers engage with the diversity of the Indian subcontinent: it treats multiple philosophical traditions, from Buddhism to Vedanta to Nyaya, and multiple topics, from metaphysics to ethics to epistemology. The focus throughout the guide is on how to read texts philosophically.

Tackling complex ideas and philosophical concepts, each chapter follows the same format. The historical context appears before the central themes and arguments are discussed. Textual excerpts accompany both close readings and explanation of philosophical reading practices, teaching readers to unpack arguments with textual sensitivity. A glossary and further reading suggestions give additional support. The volume also includes one of the texts discussed in translation: the first-ever English translation of Abhinavagupta's Seed of the Banyan Tree of Tantra, a key text in the non-dual Shaiva tradition.

For anyone coming to Asian philosophy for the first time, here are the skills and tools you need to read and understand major texts in Indian philosophy.