---
type: Concept
bundle: sankhya-darshana
bundle_version: 0.13.0
id: samkhya-pravacana-sutra
title: Sāṃkhya-Pravacana-Sūtra (as concept)
iast: Sāṃkhya-Pravacana-Sūtra
devanagari: सांख्यप्रवचनसूत्र
description: The secondary sutra-collection text grounding Samkhya's nirishvara doctrine explicitly (1.92, 'Ishvara is unproved') -- a later compilation attributed to the Kapila tradition, treated here as an index-anchor concept, complementary to its full Reference entry.
darshana:
- Samkhya
tags:
- samkhya-pravacana-sutra
- text
- kapila
- primary-source
not:
- term: the earliest or most historically primary Samkhya text
  why: Despite being attributed to Kapila, the Samkhya-Pravacana-Sutra as an extant text is a later compilation, not confidently datable to the founder's own hand. It is nonetheless the clearest and most explicit textual source for the nirishvara argument (1.92), and stands alongside the earlier Samkhya-Karika as this bundle's dual anchor texts.
related:
- /concepts/nirishvara.md
- /concepts/kapila.md
timestamp: '2026-07-10'
okf_version: '0.2'
license: CC BY-SA 4.0
---

# Sāṃkhya-Pravacana-Sūtra (as concept) -- सांख्यप्रवचनसूत्र

**Not:** the earliest or most historically primary Samkhya text

## What It Actually Means

The Sāṃkhya-Pravacana-Sūtra is a sūtra-format collection attributed to the Kapila tradition, extant in a form generally considered a later compilation rather than the school's earliest textual layer. Its enduring significance for this bundle is verse 1.92's direct statement that Īśvara is unproved -- the textual anchor for classical Sāṃkhya's nirīśvara stance, cited alongside the Sāṃkhya-Kārikā as this bundle's second primary text.

## Audience Metaphor

Where the Kārikā is the compact founding specification, the Pravacana-Sūtra is closer to a later, more explicit legal ruling on a specific contested point -- in this case, settling the Īśvara question directly and citably rather than leaving it implicit.

## Citations

1. See the full Reference entry: [references/samkhya-pravacana-sutra.md](../references/samkhya-pravacana-sutra.md)
