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Saṃsāra (Devanagari: संसार) is a Sanskrit word that means "wandering"^[1][2] as well as "world," wherein the term connotes "cyclic change"^[3] or, less formally, "running around in circles." In the context of Indian religions and philosophies, saṃsāra is the concept of all beings experiencing an ongoing cycle of life, death, and rebirth.^[1][4][5] As a result, it can also be equated broadly with transmigration/reincarnation, the karmic cycle, the lesser-used term Punarjanman, or a "cycle of aimless drifting, wandering or mundane existence".^[1][4][6]

The "cyclicity of all life, matter, and existence" is a main belief of most Indian religions.^[4][7][8] The concept of saṃsāra has roots in the post-Vedic literature; the theory is not discussed in the Vedas themselves.^[9][10] It appears in developed form, but without mechanistic details, in the early Upanishads.^[4][11][12] The full exposition of the saṃsāra doctrine is found in early Buddhism and Jainism, as well as in various schools of Hindu philosophy.^[4][12][13] The saṃsāra doctrine is tied to the karma theory of Hinduism, and the liberation from saṃsāra has been at the core of the spiritual quest of Indian traditions, as well as their internal disagreements.^[4][14][15] The liberation from saṃsāra is called Moksha, Nirvāṇa, Mukti, or Kaivalya.^{[4][6][16][17]}

• Harold Coward (2008). The Perfectibility of Human Nature in Eastern and Western Thought: The Central Story. State University of New York Press. ISBN 978-0-7914-7336-8.
• Mark Juergensmeyer; Wade Clark Roof (2011). Encyclopedia of Global Religion. SAGE Publications. ISBN 978-1-4522-6656-5.

• Klaus Klostermaier (2010). A Survey of Hinduism: Third Edition. State University of New York Press. ISBN 978-0-7914-8011-3.
• Stephen J. Laumakis (2008). An Introduction to Buddhist Philosophy. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-139-46966-1.
• Lochtefeld, James (2002). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Vol. 2: N-Z. Rosen Publishing. ISBN 978-0-8239-2287-1.
• Michael Myers (2013). Brahman: A Comparative Theology. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-136-83565-0.
• Obeyesekere, Gananath (2005). Wendy Doniger (ed.). Karma and Rebirth: A Cross Cultural Study. Motilal Banarsidass. ISBN 978-8120826090.

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