Abstract
This paper announces the first critical edition of Abhinavagupta’s commentary (entitled Gītārthasaṃgraha) on the Bhagavadgītā in its Kashmirian recension, based on one Kashmirian Devanāgarī and seven Śāradā manuscripts in addition to two existing non-critical editions. The volume will also include a new edition of the Kashmirian recension of the Bhagavadgītā and a full French translation. After a short presentation of Abhinavagupta’s commentary and a discussion of previous work on the subject, the manuscripts used are listed and briefly described. The question and importance of the Kashmirian recension of the Bhagavadgītā and problems of its edition are discussed in detail, with several textual examples. In order to give a sample of the Gītārthasaṃgraha’s contents, some of Abhinavagupta’s remarkable interpretations are also highlighted, in particular tantric or esoteric ones. An Appendix deals with the closely related question of Bhāskara the Vedāntin, his date, his provenance and the Gītā recension he probably used for his commentary.
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Abbreviations and Bibliography
Authors and works
BhG: Bhagavadgītā
GBh: Bhagavadgītābhāṣya
BS: Brahmasūtra
BSBh: Brahmasūtrabhāṣya
GAS: Gītārthasaṃgraha
Institutions, journals and series
ABORI: Annals of the BORI
ALS: Adyar Library Series
ĀSS: Ānandāsrama Sanskrit Series
BORI: Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute
CSS: Chowkhamba Sanskrit Series
EFEO: École française d’Extrême-Orient
HOS: Harvard Oriental Series
IFP: Institut français de Pondichéry
IHQ: Indian Historical Quarterly
JAOS: Journal of the American Oriental Society
JRAS: Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society} [of Great Britain and Ireland, Londres
KSTS: Kashmir Series of Texts and Studies
TSS: Trivandrum Sanskrit Series
WZKS: Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde Südasiens
A. Sources (Texts and translations)
Bhagavadgītā [BhG]
Text
Vulgate editions
1. Poona edition (Kinjawadekar, with Nīlakaṇṭha’s commentary): Kinjawadekar, Ramachandrashastri (1929–1936): Shriman Mahâbhâratam, with Bhârata Bhâwadeepa par Nîlakantha, 8 vols. Poona, Citrashala Press.
2. Śaṅkara’s mūla:
• Āpaṭe, V.G. (1936): Śrīmadbhagavadgītā, ānandagirikṛtaṭīkāsaṃvali-taśaṃkarabhāṣyasametā. Benares, Ānandāśrama Press (ĀSS 34);
• Gokhale, D.V. (1950): Śrīmadbhagavagītā Śrīśaṅkarabhagavatpādā-cāryaviracitena bhāṣyeṇa sahitā. Poona, Oriental Book Agency (Poona Oriental Series 1).
3. Critical edition: Belvalkar, S.K. (1945): The Bhagavadgītā, being reprint of relevant parts of Bhīṣmaparvan from BOR Institute’s edition of the Mahābhārata. For the first time critically edited by Shripad Krishna Belvalkar. Poona, BORI [Extract from the MBh C. Ed, Poona, BORI, 1933–1972 by Sukthankar, Belvalkar & Vaidya].
4. Belvalkar, S.K. (1947): [Critical edition of the] Bhīṣmaparvan [of the Mahābhārata]. Mahābhārata vol. VII. Poona, BORI.
Kashmirian Gītā editions
1. Belvalkar, S.K. (1941): Śrīmad-Bhagavad-Gītā with the ‘Jñānakarmasamuccayaʼ Commentary of Ānanda[vardhana]. Edited from an unique Śāradā Ms. Poona, Bilvakuñja Publishing House.
2. Chintamani, T.R. (1941): Śrīmadbhagavadgītā with Sarvatobhadra of Rājānaka Rāmakaṇṭha. Madras, University of Madras (Madras University Sanskrit Series 14).
3. Jha, S. [Subhadropādhyāya] (1965): Bhagavadgītā Bhāṣya by Bhāskarācārya [Śrīmadbhagavadgītāyāḥ : bhagavadāśayānusaraṇābhidhānabhāṣyaṃ bhagavadbhāskaraviracitam]. Benares, Varanaseya Sanskrit Vishvavidyalaya (Sarasvatī Bhavana Granthamālā 94).
4. Kaul Shāstrī, M. (1943): The Bhagavadgītā with the Commentary called Sarvatobhadra by Rājānaka Ramakaṇṭha. Srinagar, Research Department, Jammu & Kashmir Government (KSTS 64).
5. See Lakshman Raina [Lakshman Joo] (1933) at GAS below.
6. Schrader, F.O. (1930): The Kashmir Recension of the Bhagavadgītā. Stuttgart, Kohlhammer (Contributions to Indian Philology and History of Religion 3).
7. Tāḍapatrīkara, S.N. [Tatpatrikar] (1939): Rājānakarāmakavikṛta-sarvatobhadrākhyaṭīkāyutā kāśmīrapāṭhānusāriṇī śrīmadbhagavadgītā. Poona, Ānandāśrama Press (ĀSS 112).
Text & Translation (Vulgate)
van Buitenen, J.A.B. (1981): The Bhagavadgītā in the Mahābhārata: a bilingual edition. Chicago, Chicago University Press. [Claims (p. xii) to follow Belvalkar’s critical edition and to have added ‘occasional variants readings’ and ‘appended a list of readings based on the early commentary of Bhāskara’ (although, vB only refers to his 1965 paper: ‘A Contribution to the Critical Edition of the Bhagavadgītā’, on p. 161)].
Gītārthasaṃgraha [GAS]
Text [BhG + GAS]
1. Lakshman Raina [Lakshman Joo] (1933): Śrīmad Bhagavad Gītā with Commentary by Mahāmaheśvara Rājānaka Abhinavagupta. Srinagar, Kashmir Pratap Steam Press.
2. Pansikar, W.L. Shastri (1912): The Bhagavadgītā with the Śāṅkarabhāṣya comm. and the subcomm. of Ānandagiri, the Nīlakaṇṭhī comm., the Bhāṣyotkarṣadīpikā comm. of Dhanapati, the Śrīdharī comm., the Gītārthasaṅgraha comm. of Abhinavagupta, and the Gūḍārthadīpikā comm. of Madhusūdana with the Gūḍārthatattvāloka subcomm. of Dharmadatta (Bacchāśarman). Bombay, Nirṇaya Sagar Press. [The Sanskrit text of the Gītā proves to be that of the Vulgate.
3. Sankaranarayanan, S. (1985): Śrīmadbhagavadgītā with Gītārthasaṅgraha of Abhinavagupta. Tirupati, Śrī Venkateswara University, Oriental Research Institute (S.V. University Oriental Series 11). Pt 1: Text. [Follows mainly Lakshman Joo’s edition].
Translation (BhG + GAS)
1. Gnoli, R. (1976): Il Canto del Beato (Bhagavadgītā). Turin, Unione Tipografico-Editrice Torinese. [From both the Introductory Note and the translation, it is not clear what Sanskrit text Gnoli follows for the GAS: that of Pansikar or that of Lakshman Joo? Probably that of Pansikar]
2. Marjanovic, B. (2002): Abhinavagupta’s Commentary on the Bhagavad Gita. Gītārtha-saṁgraha. Translated from Sanskrit with Introduction and Notes by Boris Marjanovic. Delhi, Indica.
3. Sankaranarayanan, S. (1985): Śrīmadbhagavadgītā with Gītārthasaṅgraha of Abhinavagupta. Tirupati, Śrī Venkateswara University, Oriental Research Institute (S.V. University Oriental Series 11). Pt 2: Translation.
Translation (GAS only)
Sharma, A. (1983): Gītārthasaṃgraha, Translated with an Introductory Study. Leiden, Brill. [Seems to follow Pansikar’s edition].
Other Sources
Bhāmatī
Shastri, J.L. (1980): Brahmasūtra-Śaṅkarabhāṣyam, with the Commentaries Bhāṣyaratnaprabhā of Govindānanda, Bhāmatī of Vācaspatimiśra, Nyāyanirṇaya of Ānandagiri. Delhi, Motilal Banarsidass.
Bhāratamañjarī
Śivadatta, P.–Parab, K.P. (1898): The Bhāratamañjarī of Kṣemendra. Bombay, Nirṇaya-Sâgara Press.
Brahmasūtrabhāṣya (Śārīrakamīmāṃsābhāṣya) by Bhāskara [BSBh].
Dvivedin, V.P. (1915): Brahmasūtra with a Commentary by Bhāskarāchārya. Varanasi, Chowkhamba Sanskrit Series Office (CSS 20).
Kato, T. (2011): The First Two Chapters of Bhāskara’s Śārīrakamīmāṃsābhāṣya: Critically Edited with an Introduction, Notes and an Appendix. Online Publication, ULB Sachsen-Anhalt, 2011, UNR: http:/nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:gbv:3:4–9304 (last access February 2015).
Īśvarapratyabhijñāvimarśinī
Subramanya Iyer, K.A.–Pandey, K.C. [Dwivedi, R.C. (gen. ed.)] (1986): Īśvara-Pratyabhijñā-Vimarśinī of Abhinavagupta: Doctrine of Divine Recognition. Vol. 1 and 2: Sanskrit text with the Commentary Bhāskarī (Subramanya Iyer, K.A.– Pandey, K.C.); vol. 3: English Translation (Pandey, K.C.). Delhi, Motilal Banarsidass. [1st ed. Allahabad, Lucknow, 1930–1954 (The Princess of Wales Saraswati Bhavana Texts 70, 83, 84)].
Īśvarapratyabhijñāvivṛtivimarśinī
Shāstrī, M. Kaul (1938–1943): Īśvarapratyabhijñā Vivṛtivimarśini by Abhinavagupta. 3 vols. Srinagar, Research Department, Jammu & Kashmir Government (KSTS 60, 62, 65).
Mahārthamañjarī
Gaṇapati Śāstrī, T. (1919): The Maharthamanjari with the Commentary Parimala of Mahesvarananda. Trivandrum, Government of His Highness the Maharajah of Travancore (TSS 66).
Moksopāya
Anonymus Casmiriensis Mokṣopāya. Textedition Teil 1 Das Erste und Zweite Buch Vairāgyaprakaraṇa, Mumukṣuvyavahāraprakaraṇa. Kritische Edition von Suzanne Krause-Stinner. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag. 2011.
Anonymus Casmiriensis Mokṣopāya. Textedition Teil 2 Das Dritte Buch Utpattiprakaraṇa. Kritische Edition von Jürgen Hanneder, Peter Stephan und Stanislav Jager. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag. 2011.ṇ.
Paramārthasāra
Bansat-Boudon, L.–Tripathi, K.D. (2011): An Introduction to Tantric Philosophy: The Paramārthasāra of Abhinavagupta with the Commentary of Yogarāja. [translated by Lyne Bansat-Boudon and Kamaleshadatta Tripathi. Introduction, notes, critically revised Sanskrit text, appendix, indices by Lyne Bansat-Boudon]. Londres/New York, Routledge (Routledge Studies in Tantric Traditions 3).
Prameyadīpikā
Sadhale, S.J.S. (1935–38): The Bhagavad-Gita with eleven Commentaries. First Collection. 3 vols. (vol. 1: chap. 1–6; vol. 2: chap. 7–12; vol. 3: chap. 13–18). Bombay, Gujarati Printing Press [2nd ed.].
Śivasūtravārttika
Chatterji, J.C. (1916): Shiva Sūtra Vārttika by Bhāskara along with the Shiva-Sūtra-Vṛtti by Kṣema Rāja [an extract from Śivasūtravimarśinī (cf. Preface)], and the Spanda Kārikās with the vr̥itti by Kallaṭa. Srinagar, Research Department, Kashmir State (KSTS 4–5).
Spandakārikāvivṛti
Chatterji, J.C. (1913): The Spanda Kārikās with the Vivṛiti of Rāmakaṇṭha. Srinagar, Research Department, Jammu & Kashmir State (KSTS 6).
Stavacintāmaṇi
Rāma Shāstrī, M. (1918): The Stava-Chintāmaṇi of Bhaṭṭa Nārāyaṇa, with Commentary by Kṣhemarāja. Srinagar, Research Department, Jammu & Kashmir State (KSTS 10).
Tantrāloka
Kaul Shāstrī, M. (1918–1938): The Tantrāloka of Abhinava Gupta with Commentary by Rājānaka Jayaratha. 12 vols. Srinagar, Research Department, Jammu & Kashmir State (KSTS 23, 28, 29, 30, 35, 36, 41, 47, 52, 57, 58, 59).
Tātparyacandrikā
See Sadhale, S.J.S. (1935–38).
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Acknowledgements
We are extremely grateful to a number of people who all helped us in one way or another to have access to or copies of manuscripts, in particular to Prof. Bettina Bäumer, Prof. K.D. Tripathi and his very helpful student Dr Narendra Dutt Tiwari, to his Highness the Mahārāja of Jammu and Kashmir Dr Karan Singh and his secretary Mr S.K. Vohra, to Prof. Françoise Nalini Delvoye and to Prof. Ganesh U. Thite. We would also like to thank the various institutions whose manuscripts we have been able to use, namely the Banaras Hindu University, the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute in Pune, the Oriental Research Library of Shrinagar and the Shri Ranbir Sanskrit Research Library, Jammu, as well as the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts. Special thanks are due to all the librarians in these institutions for their invaluable help. We are also indebted to Prof. Jürgen Hanneder, Marburg, and to Ms Nicole Merkel-Hilf, South Asia Institute, Heidelberg, for their help with bibliographical data.
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Bansat-Boudon, L., Törzsök, J. Abhinavagupta on the Kashmirian Gītā . J Indian Philos 46, 31–64 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10781-017-9335-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10781-017-9335-1