As the title indicates, this volume deliberates on the “essentials” of Indian philosophy allowing one to peruse, analyse and absorb its crux. It has set its focus on the history of Indian philosophy starting from the course of Vedic religion, its transition to the prominent systems, its intake from the non-Vedic schools of thought, and the details and analysis of Nyaya-Vaisheshika, Samkhya-Yoga, Purva-Mimamsa, and Vedanta from both an absolutistic and a theistic approach. The book portrays the authentic chronological limits of these systems, disagreeing many a theory and study. Its in-depth but concise and connecting account of Indian philosophical systems has vivid interpretations and daunting criticisms. A historical survey accompanies each natural division of the subject along with its theory of knowledge, ontology and practical teaching. It makes one grasp the fundamentals of Indian philosophy at ease and navigate further to its nuances across a vide spectrum of readers.