Adhyaya 236

Pārvatī asks Mahādeva Śiva to name and explain the “tāmasic” scriptures said to be taught by brāhmaṇas lacking devotion. Śiva (sometimes through a relayed narratorial voice) lists non-Vaiṣṇava or heterodox systems: Śaiva doctrines beginning with Pāśupata, along with Kaṇāda’s Vaiśeṣika, Gautama’s Nyāya, Kapila’s Sāṃkhya, and Cārvāka. The chapter also gives a polemical account of a “false” Buddhist teaching, attributed to Viṣṇu as Buddha to delude the Daityas, and censures Māyāvāda as a deceptive scripture in the Kali-yuga. It then sets out a systematic tri-guṇa classification of the eighteen Purāṇas—identifying a group as tāmasa—and extends the same guṇa taxonomy to Smṛti traditions. The passage ends by warning against tāmasic associations and turns back to teachings “pertaining to Hari.”