Abstract
Dharmarāja Adhvarin’s (middle XVII cent.) Vedānta Paribhāṣā (VP) is a well-known introduction to Advaita Vedānta, targeted to beginners who are already trained in Navya Nyāya. According to Dasgupta (1942), the VP is so heavily indebted to Rāmādvaya’s Vedānta Kaumudī (VK), which was composed in the middle of the 14th century and is today almost forgotten, that the VP’s “claim to originality vanishes”. The VK was, however, only edited in 1955 and then again in 1973. In the light of this improved textual basis, what is our judgement about Dasgupta’s hypercritical statement? Did actually the VP ever claim to be original? Was this originality somehow superimposed on the VP later? Is the VP really so much indebted to the VK? This paper aims at comparatively analysing the textual background of these questions. I will start from the analysis of one Advaita’s epistemological tenet, namely the valid knowledge (pramā), in the VK and then compare it to the corresponding parts in the VP.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Primary Sources
UP = 1996 [I Ed. 1970]. Upaniṣatsaṃgrahaḥ. Edited by Jagadīśa Śāstrī. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.
KKK = Śrīharṣa. 1992 [I Ed. 1979]. Khaṇḍanakhaṇḍakhādyam ānandapūrṇamunīndraviracita ‘khaṇḍanaphakkikā ’saṃskṛtavyākhyā tathā svāmiyogindrānandakṛta‘khaṇḍanapañjikā’ hindīvyākhyāvibhūṣitam. Edited by Svāmī Yogīndrānanda. Vārāṇasī: Caukhambā Vidyābhavana.
Tarkasaṃgraha = Annaṃbhaṭṭa. 22007. Tarkasaṃgrahaḥ nyāyabodhinī-padakṛtya-dīpikā-kiraṇāvalīvyākhyopetaḥ. Saṃpādakaḥ Śrīkṛṣṇavallabhācārya. Vārāṇasī: Caukhambā Vidyābhavana.
Tattvapradīpikā = Citsukha Muni. 1974. Tattvapradīpikā (citsukhī) paramahaṃsaparivrājakācāryaśrīmatpratyaksvarūpabhagavatpraṇītayā nayanaprasādinīvyākhyayā sanāthā nyāyācāryamīmāṃ- sātīrthādyupalakṣitaśrīmadudāsīnapravarasvāmiyogīndrānandakṛtena saṭippaṇabhāṣānuvādena ca samalaṃkṛtā. Edited by Svāmī Yogīndrānanda. Vārāṇasī: Caukhambā Vidyābhavan.
Tātparyapariśuddhi = Udayanācārya. 1996. Nyāyavārtikatātparyapariśuddhiḥ. Edited by Anantalal Thakur. Delhi: Indian Council of Philosophical Research.
Nyāyakusumañjalī = Udayanācārya. 22002. Śrīmadudayanācāryapraṇītaḥ nyāyakusumāñjaliḥ (vyākhyācatuṣṭayopetaḥ saṭippaṇaḥ) śrīmadvaradarājapraṇītayā ‘bodhinyā’ mahopādhyāyaśrī- vardhamānopādhyāyapraṇītena ‘prakāśena’ naiyāyikaśiromaṇiśrīmeghaṭhakkurapraṇītayā ‘prakāśikayā’ (jaladena) mahopādhyāyaśrīrucidattopādhyāyapraṇītena‘makarandena’ sarvatantrasva- tantraśrīdharmadatta-(bacchājhā)-praṇītayā ṭippaṇyā ca samullasitaḥ. Edited by Nyāyācārya Pt. Śrī Padmaprasāda Upādhyāya and Nyāyācārya Pt. Śrī Dhuṇḍhirāja Śāstrī. Vārāṇasī: Caukhambā Saṃskṛta Series Office.
Pañcapādikā/Pañcapādikāvivaraṇa = 1992. Pañcapādikā śrīprakāśātmamunikṛtena vivaraṇa- vyākhyānena śrīmadakhaṇḍānandamuniśrīviṣṇubhaṭṭopādhyāyakṛtābhyāṃ tattvadīpanaṛjuvi- varaṇasaṃjñitābhyāṃ vivaraṇavyākhyābhyāṃ ca samalaṃkṛtā. Edited by S. Subrahmaṇya Śāstrī. Varanasi–Mount Abu: Mahesh Research Institute.
Prakaṭārthavivaraṇa = 1989 [I Ed. Madras 1935]. The Prakaṭārthavivaraṇa of Anubhūtisvarūpācārya being a Commentary on the Brahmasūtrabhāṣya of Śaṅkarācārya. Edited by T. R. Chintamani, 2 Vols. New Delhi: Navrang.
BP (1973).
BSBh = 2000 [I ed. Delhi 1980]. Brahmasūtraśāṅkarabhāṣyaṃ śrīgovindānandakṛtayā bhāṣyaratnaprabhayā śrīvācaspatimiśraviracitayā bhāmatyā śrīmadānandagiripraṇītena nyāyanirṇayena samupetam. Edited by Jagadīśa Lāl Śāstrī. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.
VK.1 = Rāmādvaya. 1955. The Vedāntakaumudī of Rāmādvayāchārya. Edited by S. Subrahmanya Sastri. Madras: University of Madras.
VK.2 = Rāmādvaya. 1973. Bhāvadīpikāsaṃvalitā vedāntakaumudī. Edited by Rādheśyāma Caturvedī. Vārāṇasī: Kāśī Hindū Viśvavidyālaya Śodhaprakāśana.
VP = Dharmarājādhvarīndra. 1992 [I Ed. 1927]. Vedāntaparibhāṣā śivadattakṛtā arthadīpikā ṭīkāvibhūṣitā. Saṭippaṇisampādakaḥ Śrītryambakarāma Śāstrī, Bhāṣānuvādakaḥ Svāmī Prajñāna- bhikṣuḥ. Vārāṇasī: Caukhambha Saṃskṛta Series Office.
Vedāntasāra = Sadānanda. 2004 [I Ed. Mysore 1929]. Vedānta-sāra. Edited with an Introduction, Translation & Explanatory Notes by M. Hiriyanna. Delhi: Chaukhamba Sanskrit Pratishthan.
Siddhāntaleśasaṃgraha = Appayadīkṣita. 1894. Siddhāntaleśasaṃgrahaḥ śrīmatparamahaṃsaparivrājakācāryaśrīmatsvayaṃprakāśānandasarasvatīśiṣyācyutakṛṣṇānandatīrthaviracitayā kṛṣṇālaṃ- kārākhyayā vyākhyayā samalaṃkṛtaḥ. Hariharaśāstriṇā saṃpāditaḥ Kumbhakonam: Śrīvidyāmudrākṣaraśālā.
Secondary Sources
Aufrecht, T. (1891, 1896). Catalogus catalogorum. An alphabetical register of Sanskrit works and authors. Part I 1891, Part II 1896. Leipzig: Verlag F. A. Brockhaus
Bhattacharya D.C. (2001). Post-Śaṅkara Advaita. In H. Bhattacharya (Ed.), Cultural heritage of India (Vol. III, I Ed. 1937, pp. 255–280). The Philosophies. Calcutta: The Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture.
Bilimoria, P. (2008). Śabdapramāṇa: Word and knowledge in Indian philosophy (I Ed. Dordrecht 1988). Studies of Classical India 10. New Delhi: DK Printworld.
Caturvedī (1973). See VK.2 1973.
Chintamani (1989). See Prakaṭāthavivaraṇa 1989.
Dasgupta (1942). See Dharmarājādhvarīndra (1997).
Dasgupta, S. (1991). A history of Indian philosophy (Vol. II, I Ed. Cambridge 1931). Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.
Dash, S. (2013). New catalogus catalogorum (Vol. XXXI). Madras: University of Madras.
Datta, D.M. (1997). The six ways of knowing (I Ed. 1932). Calcutta: University of Calcutta.
Dharmarājādhvarīndra 1997. [I Ed. 1943]. Vedāntaparibhāṣā. Translated and annotated by Swami Mādhavānanda. Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama.
Diaconescu, B. (2012). On the new ways of the Late Vedic hermeneutics: Mīmāmsā and Navya-Nyāya. Asiatische Studies/Études Asiatiques, LXVI.2, 261–306.
Freschi, E. (2013). Review of Kei Kataoka, Kumārila on truth, omniscience and killing. A critical edition of Mīmāṃsā-Ślokavārttika ad 1.1.2 (Codanāsūtra). International Journal of Asian Studies, 10(1), 90–94.
Gotszorg, G. (1991). Morceaux choisis des theses de l’Advaita Vedānta. Présentation tradution du sanskrit et annotations du Siddhānta-Leśa-Saṃgraha (chapitre) du philosophie indien Appaya Dīkṣita. Paris: École pratique des hautes études.
Gupta, B. (1995). Perceiving in Advaita Vedānta: Epistemological analysis and interpretation (I Ed. London–Toronto 1991). Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass
Kataoka, K. (2003). The Mīmāṃsā definition of pramāṇa as a source of new information. Journal of Indian Philosophy, 31(1–3), 89–103.
Madhavananda (1997). See Dharmarājādhvarīndra (1997).
Matilal, Bimal Krishna. (1977). Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika. In Jan Gonda (Ed.). A history of indian literature. (Vol. VI, Fasc. 2). Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz.
Nachane, S. A. (2000). Post Śaṅkara Advaita Vedānta. Edited by R.K. Panda. Delhi: Eastern Book Linkers.
Pandey, Lakshuman. (1972). The Buddhist concept of omniscience. Phd Thesis: McMaster University.
Pellegrini, Gianni. (2009). Svapna: alcune considerazioni sull’epistemologia del sogno. In Daniela Boccassini (Ed.). Sogni e visioni nel mondo indo-mediterraneo. Quaderni di studi indo-mediterranei (Vol. II). Alessandria: Edizioni dell’Orso, 71–89.
Pellegrini, Gianni. (2014a). Is there any need of Doubt? The incipit of Advaitasiddhi. Nagoya Studies in Indian Culture and Buddhism: Saṃbhāṣā, 31, 3–19.
Pellegrini, Gianni. (2014b). “Old s Gold!” Madhusūdana Sarasvatī’s Way of Referring to Earlier Textual Tradition. Journal of Indian Philosophy, 42. doi:10.1007/s10781-014-9240-9.
Pellegrini, Gianni. (forthcoming a). … and What about the Vedānta Paribhāṣā’s paribhāṣātva? Some Hypothesis on the Use of paribhāṣā in Later Advaita Vedānta. In Gianni Pellegrini (Ed.), Meanings out of rules. Definitions, Functions and Uses of paribhāṣās in Śrautasūtras, Mīmāṃsā, Vyākaraṇa and Vedānta. London-New York-Delhi: Anthem Press.
Pellegrini, Gianni. (forthcoming b). Reusing a Tradition. On the originality in the Vivaraṇa school of Advaita Vedānta: A further examination of the cases of Rāmādvaya and Dharmarāja Adhvarin (Studies in Vedānta Kaumudī II). In Elisa Freschi and Philipp A. Maas (Eds.), Adaptive Reuse of Texts, Ideas and Images. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag.
Potter, K. H. (1995). Bibliography. Encyclopaedia of Indian Philosophies. (Vol. I, Sects. I and II, I Ed. Delhi 1970). Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.
Ratié, I. (2011). Le Soi et l’Autre. Identité, différence et altérité dans la philosophie de la Pratyabhijñā (Vol. 13). Jerusalem Studies in Religion and Culture. Leiden: Brill.
Śarmā, R. (1998). Advaita Vedānta. Itihāsa tathā siddhānta. Dillī: Eastern Book Linkers.
Sastri, P. P. S. (1931). A descriptive catalogue of the Sanskrit manuscripts in the Tanjore Mahārāja Serfoji’s Sarasvatī Mahāl Library, Tanjore. Vol. XIII—Uttaramīmāṃsā (Advaita) Nos. 7413–7772. Srirangam: Sri Vani Vilas Press.
Sastri, S. S. Suryanarayana (Ed and tr.). 1984 [I Ed. 1942]. Vedāntaparibhāṣā. Adyar: The Adyar Library and Research Centre.
Sastri-Sastri (1959). See Prakaṭārthavivaraṇa (1989).
Subrahmanya (1955). See VK.2 (1973).
Subrahmania, S. S. (2003) [I Ed. 1968]. Rāmādvayācharya. In T. M. P. Mahadevan (Gen. editor). Perceptors of Advaita. Madras: Samata Books, 171-173.
Sundaram, P. K. (1984). Advaita epistemology with special reference to Iṣṭasiddhi. Madras: University of Madras.
Thangaswami, R. (1980). Advaita Vedānta literature. A bibliographical survey. Madras: University of Madras.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Pellegrini, G. On the Alleged Indebtedness of the Vedānta Paribhāṣā Towards the Vedānta Kaumudī: Some Considerations on an Almost Forgotten Vivaraṇa Text (Studies in Vedānta Kaumudī I). J Indian Philos 44, 485–505 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10781-014-9271-2
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10781-014-9271-2