I."Philosophy"as was distinguished from"Religion"<br>In traditions of the West"religion"and"philosophy"have been, generally speaking, clearly and sharply distinguished from each other. In the West nowadays both are different concepts. However, in Eastern traditions there have been many cases in which the both concepts are not easily distinguishable.<br>In the work Ta Indika, fragments of which are now remnant, Megasthenes, the Greek author (c. 300 B.C.), in describing metaphysical thoughts of Indians, calls them"philosophia"in Greek. Apollonios of Tyana (first century A.D.) is said to have made a journey to attain the"Wisdom of Indians"which he termed"philosophia"in Greek.<br>When Tetsujiro Inoue began to lecture on Indian thought at the Imperial University of Tokyo in 1904 A.D., he termed the title of his lecture"Indo Tetsugaku"which was the Japanese translation of the Western term"Indian Philosophy"."Tetsugaku"is a Japanese word newly coined, when Western civilisation was introduced into Japan, to mean the Western concept"philosophy". Then, what was the Indian equivalent to"philosophy"as was in use among Indians?<br>While Indians and other South-Asians adopted the traditional word "dharma"to mean religion, they adopted the word"darsana"which was traditionally in use among intellectuals there.<br>II. darsana<br>Nowadays in universities of India and other South Asian countries the department of philosophy is generally called darsana-bhaga. Etymologically the term darsana derived from the root drs which means'to see'or 'to view'. In Sanskrit literature originally it could mean'opinion'. This word was multivocal, and finally it came to mean'philosophy'or'a philosophical system.'<br>III. anviksiki<br>Another word which means'philosophy'was anviksiki, which originally meant'investigation'or'investigation by means of reasoning.' According to the Arthasastra of Kautilya anvikisiki meant the philosophy of the Samkhya school, the philosophy of the Yoga school and the philosophy of the Lokayatas (Materialists). The philosophical systems which based themselves upon religious, traditional scriptures were excluded from anviksiki. Law texts of Brahmanism regulate that the learning of anviksiki is essential to rulers.<br>IV. The main purpose of the Studies of the Nyaya school<br>Logicians of the Nyaya school regarded anviksiki as the main purpose of their studies, as are evidenced in logical texts.<br>V. The Internal Knowledge (adhyatma-vidya) of Mahayana Buddhists<br>The Mahayanasutralamkara, the Bodhisattvabhumi and other texts of Mahayana admit the five kinds of knowledge, i.e. 1) Internal knowledge (adhyatma -vidya), 2) logic (hetuvidya), 3) linguistics (sabdavidya), 4) medical science (cikitsa-vidya, and 5) technology (silpakarma-sthana-vidya).<br>Among these five'internal knowledge'is closest to the Western concept of'philosophy'. Nowadays the word'adhyatma-vidya'is used as the equivalent to the western concept of'metaphysics'. However, the meaning of 'internal knowledge'differed with thinkers and peoples.<br>VI. Concluding Words<br>1) The theory of the kinds of knowledge in India and South Asian countries developed gradually with the lapse of time.<br>2) The Buddhist theory of the Five kinds of knowledge owed its formation chiefly and substantially to pre-existing Brahmanistic ratiocination.<br>3) The investigation of the equivalent to Western'philosophy'current among thinkers of India and other Asian countries will be meaningful for clarification of the idea of'philosophy'in future.