---
type: Reference
bundle: nyaya-vaisheshika
bundle_version: 0.9.0
id: vaisheshika-sutra
title: Vaiśeṣika Sūtra
description: The foundational sūtra text of the Vaiśeṣika school (Kaṇāda), which sets out the categories of being, the nine substances, the qualities and motions, and the atomist cosmology.
tags:
- reference
- vaisheshika-sutra
- kanada
- primary-text
timestamp: '2026-07-02'
okf_version: '0.2'
license: CC BY-SA 4.0
---

# Vaiśeṣika Sūtra

The Vaiśeṣika Sūtra, attributed to Kaṇāda (Ulūka), is the root text of the Vaiśeṣika darśana and one of the oldest works of Indian natural philosophy. It presents the categories of being, originally six (substance, quality, motion, universal, particularity, inherence), with abhāva (absence) added by the later tradition; enumerates the nine substances; classifies the qualities and the five motions; and argues to imperceptible eternal atoms (paramāṇu) as the ultimate constituents of the four elements. The school takes its name from viśeṣa, the ultimate particularity. This bundle anchors the ontology tier, dravya, guṇa, karma-as-motion, sāmānya, viśeṣa, samavāya, paramāṇu, to this text and to Praśastapāda's exposition.
