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Studies on Bhartṛhari, 9: Vākyapadīya 2.119 and the Early History of Mīmāṃsā

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Abstract

This article argues that in early Mīmāṃsā the view was current that there are objects in the world corresponding to all words of the Sanskrit language. Evidence to that effect is primarily found in passages from Bhartṛhari’s works, and in some classical Nyāya texts. Interestingly, Śabara’s classical work on Mīmāṃsā has abandoned this position, apparently for an entirely non-philosophical reason: the distaste felt for the newly arising group of Brahmanical temple-priests.

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Abbreviations

ASS:

Ānandāśrama Sanskrit Series, Poona

DNC:

Dvādaśāranayacakra of Mallavādin. Edited, with the commentary Nyāyāgamānusāriṇī of Siṃhasūri Gaṇi Vādi Kṣamāśramaṇa, by Muni Jambūvijayajī, 3 parts, Bhavnagar: Sri Jain Atmanand Sabha, 1966, 1976, 1988

MīBh:

Mīmāṃsā Bhāṣya de Śabara (ASS 97)

NBh:

Nyāyabhāṣya of Pakṣilasvāmin Vātsyāyana, in the following edition: Nyāyadarśanam with Vātsyāyana’s Bhāṣya, Uddyotakara’s Vārttika, Vācaspati Miśra’s Tātparyaṭīkā & Viśvanātha’s Vṛtti. Chapter I, section I critically edited with notes by Taranatha Nyaya-Tarkatirtha and chapters I-ii–V by Amarendramohan Tarkatirtha, with an introduction by Narendra Chandra Vedantatirtha. Calcutta: Metropolitan Printing & Publishing House, 1936–1944

NV:

Nyāyavārttika of Uddyotakara. For the edition, see NBh

Vkp:

Bhartṛhari, Vākyapadīya, ed. W. Rau, Wiesbaden 1977

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Université de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Johannes Bronkhorst

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  1. Johannes Bronkhorst
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Correspondence to Johannes Bronkhorst.

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Preceding articles of this series have been published in the following periodicals and books: Bulletin d’Études Indiennes 6 (1988), 105-143 (no. 1: “L’auteur et la date de la Vṛtti”); Studien zur Indologie und Iranistik 15 (1989), 101-117 (no. 2: “Bhartṛhari and Mīmāṃsā”); Asiatische Studien/Études Asiatiques 45 (1991), 5-18 (no. 3: “Bhartṛhari on sphoṭa and universals”); id. 46.1 (1992), 56-80 (no. 4: “L’absolu dans le Vākyapadīya et son lien avec le Madhyamaka”); id. 47.1 (1993), 75-94 (no. 5: “Bhartṛhari and Vaiśeṣika”); Vācaspatyam: Pt. Vamanshastri Bhagwat Felicitation Volume (Pune, 1994, pp. 32-41; no. 6: “The author of the Three Centuries”); Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute 76 (1995 [1996]), 97-106 (no. 7: “Grammar as the door to liberation”); Journal of Indian Philosophy 27(1/2) (1999), 23-33 (no. 8: “prākṛta dhvani and the Sāṃkhya tanmātras”).

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Bronkhorst, J. Studies on Bhartṛhari, 9: Vākyapadīya 2.119 and the Early History of Mīmāṃsā. J Indian Philos 40, 411–425 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10781-012-9159-y

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