The founder of the Samkhya school of Indian philosophy was:

The sage Kapila is considered the founder of the Samkhya school, which is one of the oldest systems of Indian philosophy.

About the Samkhya philosophy:

"Samkhya" means "number" or "enumeration", because it lists (enumerates) the basic principles of reality.

It is a dualistic philosophy, which holds that there are two basic realities:

• "Purusha": pure consciousness, the self, which is passive and unchanging; there are many purushas.
• "Prakriti": primal matter or nature, which is active and constantly changing.
• The world develops from prakriti when it comes into contact with purusha.
• Prakriti is made of three "gunas" (qualities): "sattva" (purity, light), "rajas" (activity, passion) and "tamas" (inertia, darkness).
• Samkhya lists 25 "tattvas" (principles), including purusha, prakriti, intellect (buddhi), ego (ahamkara), mind (manas), the senses and the five elements.
• Liberation (kaivalya) comes from the knowledge of the difference between purusha and prakriti.
• Early Samkhya did not accept the idea of a creator god.

Texts:

• Kapila's original work is lost.
• The oldest surviving text is the "Samkhya Karika" of Ishvarakrishna (around 4th-5th century CE).

Influence:

• Samkhya influenced the Yoga school, which accepted its theory of reality and added practices of meditation and a personal god.
• The idea of the three gunas is found in the Bhagavad Gita and in Ayurveda.
• According to some traditions, Kapila was the son of Kardama and Devahuti and is considered an avatar of Vishnu in the Bhagavata Purana.
• Gangasagar, at the mouth of the Ganga, has a famous Kapil Muni temple, where the Gangasagar Mela is held.

The six orthodox schools (Shad-darshanas):

Samkhya, Yoga, Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Purva Mimamsa and Uttara Mimamsa (Vedanta).

Why not the other options?

• ✗Jaimini is associated with another orthodox school.
• ✗Badarayana wrote the Brahma Sutras (Vedanta).
• ✗Vyasa is the traditional author of the Mahabharata.