Peter Adamson and Jonardon Ganeri present a lively introduction to one of the world's richest intellectual traditions: the philosophy of classical India. They begin with the earliest extant literature, the Vedas, and the explanatory works that these inspired, known as Upanisads. They also discuss other famous texts of classical Vedic culture, especially the Mahābhārata and its most notable section, the Bhagavad-Gīta, alongside the rise of Buddhism and Jainism. In this opening section, Adamson and Ganeri emphasize the way that philosophy was practiced as a form of life in search of liberation from suffering. Next, the pair move on to the explosion of philosophical speculation devoted to foundational texts called 'sutras,' discussing such traditions as the logical and epistemological Nyāya school, the monism of Advaita Vedānta, and the spiritual discipline of Yoga. In the final section of the book, they chart further developments within Buddhism, highlighting Nagārjuna's radical critique of 'non-dependent' concepts and the no-self philosophy of mind found in authors like Dignāga, and within Jainism, focusing especially on its 'standpoint' epistemology. Unlike other introductions that cover the main schools and positions in classical Indian philosophy, Adamson and Ganeri's lively guide also pays attention to philosophical themes such as non-violence, political authority, and the status of women, while considering textual traditions typically left out of overviews of Indian thought, like the Cārvāka school, Tantra, and aesthetic theory as well. Adamson and Ganeri conclude by focusing on the much-debated question of whether Indian philosophy may have influenced ancient Greek philosophy and, from there, evaluate the impact that this area of philosophy had on later Western thought.

Peter Adamson received his BA from Williams College and PhD in Philosophy from the University of Notre Dame. He worked at King's College London from 2000 until 2012. He subsequently moved to the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat Munchen, where he is Professor of Late Ancient and Arabic Philosophy. He has published widely in ancient and medieval philosophy, and is the host of the History of Philosophy podcast.

Jonardon Ganeri is a Fellow of the British Academy. He is the author of Attention, Not Self (2017), The Self (2012), The Lost Age of Reason (2011), and The Concealed Art of the Soul (2007). Ganeri's work draws on a variety of philosophical traditions to construct new positions in the philosophy of mind, metaphysics, and epistemology. He became the first philosopher to win the Infosys Prize in the Humanities in 2015.

Origins
1. Begin at the End: Introduction to Indian Philosophy
2. Scriptures, Schools, and Systems: A Historical Overview
3. Kingdom for a Horse: India in the Vedic Period
4. Hide and Seek: The Upaniṣads
5. Indra's Search: The Self in the Upaniṣads
6. You Are What You Do: Karma in the Upaniṣads
7. Case Worker: Pāṇini's Grammar
8. Suffering and Smiling: The Buddha
9. Crossover Appeal: The Nature of the Buddha's Teaching
10. Carry a Big Stick: Ancient Indian Political Thought
11. Better Half: Women in Ancient India
12. Grand Illusion: Dharma and Deception in the Mahābhārata
13. World on a String: The Bhagavad-gītā
14. Mostly Harmless: Non-Violence
The Age of the Sūtra
15. A Tangled Web: The Age of the Sūtra
16. When in Doubt: The Rise of Skepticism
17. Master of Ceremonies: Jaimini's Mīmāṃsā-sūtra
18. Innocent Until Proven Guilty: Mīmāṃsā on Knowledge and Language
19. Source Code: Bādarāyaṇa's Vedānta-sūtra
20. No Two Ways About It: Śaṅkara and Advaita Vedānta
21. Communication Breakdown: Bhartṛhari on Language
22. The Theory of Evolution: īśvarakṛṣṇa's Sāṃkhya-kārikā
23. Who Wants to Live Forever? Early āyurvedic Medicine
24. Practice Makes Perfect: Patañjali's Yoga-sūtra
25. Where There's Smoke There's Fire: Gautama's Nyāya-sūtra
26. What You See Is What You Get: Nyāya on Perception
27. Standard Deductions: Nyāya on Reasoning
28. The Truth Shall Set You Free: Nyāya on the Mind
29. Fine Grained Analysis: Kaṇāda's Vaiśeṣika-sūtra
30. The Whole Story: Vaiśeṣika on Complexity and Causation
31. A Day in the Life: Theories of Time
32. The Wolf's Footprint: Indian Naturalism
33. Mind out of Matter: Materialist Theories of the Self
Buddhists and Jainas
34. We Beg to Differ: The Buddhists and Jainas
35. It All Depends: Nāgārjuna on Emptiness
36. Motion Denied: Nāgārjuna on Change
37. No Four Ways About It: Nāgārjuna's Tetralemma
38. Taking Perspective: The Jaina Theory of Standpoints
39. Well Qualified: The Jainas on Truth
40. Change of Mind: Vasubandhu and Yogācāra Buddhism
41. Who's Pulling Your Strings? Buddhaghosa on No-Self and Autonomy
42. Under Construction: Dignāga on Perception and Language
43. Follow the Evidence: Dignāga's Logic
44. Doors of Perception: Dignāga on Consciousness
Beyond Ancient India
45. In Good Taste: The Rasa Aesthetic Theory
46. Learn by Doing: Tantra
47. Looking East: Indian Influence on Greek Thought
48. The Buddha and I: Indian Influence on Islamic and European Thought
49. What Happened Next: Indian Philosophy After Dignāga