Abstract
The epistemology of śabda is one of the main themes in Bhaṭṭa Jayanta’s Nyāyamañjarī, and, in the hypotheses explored in this paper, also the conceptual basis of Jayanta’s textual re-use. The sixth chapter of the Nyāyamañjarī contains a debate between Vaiyākaraṇas and Mīmāṃsakas who, respectively, advocated an holistic or atomistic theory of language. Selected Jayanta’s re-uses from Vyākaraṇa, Mīmāṃsā, and Nyāya sources are here surveyed and analyzed, with a focus on their meaning and on the context. The method of analysis is partially following Moravcsik’s scheme for a classification of citations, as well as Small’s classification by symbolic functions. By re-using texts Jayanta not only imparted authority to his own arguments, but also reassessed the relation of his tradition with other ones. Re-used ideas and words stand for symbols of those authors’ tenets, and those authors represent symbols of their respective traditions. Moreover, by quoting a certain author Jayanta often anointed him with a symbolic status of trustworthy authority, and his statement with a status of śabdapramāṇa.
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Abbreviations and References to Primary Literature
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This paper is based on the material gathered for the forthcoming critical edition of the sixth chapter of Bhaṭṭa Jayanta’s Nyāyamañjarī, for the large part researched during project M-1160 G-15, July 2009 to June 2011, a project financed by the FWF (Fonds zur Förderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung) and based at the ISTB, University of Vienna. Manuscript material used in relation to this paper was provided by the NBh projects at the ISTB (FWF Projects P-17244, P-19328 and P-24388). For most of the Nyāyabhāṣya quotations used in this paper I am indebted to these projects, and to Karin Preisendanz in particular. Special thanks are due to Elisa Freschi, who read early drafts of the paper and enhanced its value by insightful remarks.
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Graheli, A. Epistemology of Textual Re-use in the Nyāyamañjarī . J Indian Philos 43, 137–170 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10781-014-9234-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10781-014-9234-7