Bhaskari Part Three

Description

Bhaskari Part Three The present volume fulfils the promise, held out to the reader in my Abhinavagupta: An Historical and Philosophical Study (P. 152), to publish the Bhaskari with an English sh Tran slation of the Isvara Pratyabhijñā Vimarsini of Abhinavagupta. It is the actualization of a dream, seen in Kashmir in 1931, the year of the discovery of the MS. of the Bhaskari.

It contains an English Translation of (1) the Isvara Pratya- bhijñā Karika of Utpalácarya and of (II) the Vimarsini, a co- mmentary on the above by Abhinavagupta, in the light of the Bhaskari. These two are the well recognised authoritative texts, out of the six, referred to by Madhava in his Sarva Dar- sana Sangraha, in the section on the Pratyabhijña system, the Recognitive School of Kashmir.

The original work on the system is the Siva Drsti of Soma- nanda (800 A. D.). The isvara Pratyabhijñā Kārikā of Utpa- lācārya, according to his own statement, is only a reflection (Pratibimba) of the system of Somananda. On his Kärikä he himself wrote two commentaries (1) the Vrati no complete MS. of this work has so far been discovered; the available por- tion has been published in the Kashmir Sanskrit Series: and (II) the Vivrti: only a fragment of this work has recently been traced in Kashmir, after a long and continuous search for it for about twenty-five years. Abhinavagupta wrote (1) the Viveti Vim- arśini, a commentary on the Viviti, which also has been publish- ed in the K. S. S. without the original, and (II) the Vimarsinī, a commentary on the Kärikä. Historically, the Vimarsini is the last of the available works of Abhinavagupta and, accord- ing to his own statement, summarily presents his views on the system. Thus, besides the Siva Dişti of Somananda, Utpa- lācārya’s Iśvara Pratyabhijñā Kärikä and Abhinavagupta’s Vimarsini on it, an English Translation of which is given in the following pages, are the only two complete texts on the system, available so far.

The Kärikä, without the commentary, the Vimarsini, is extremely difficult to understand. But the commentary also is from the pen of Abhinavagupta, whose style is notoriously difficult. Therefore, to facilitate the understanding of these, the publication of the Bhaskari was undertaken. familiar with the commentaries on the philosophical works on fami Western Philosophy, will be struck with the difference in the method of the commentator. He will find that a point, though of very great importance from the philosophical poin view and, therefore, point of is seriously taken up for a comment, is yet given up after just a few words ; and another point is taken in hand, which does not seem to be closely related to the point just discussed. Such a reader has to remember that Sanskrit au- thors comment, not on isolated points of a system, but on every word of the original. They do not attempt to criticise and to present an advance on the ideas contained in the original text. Even when they do so, they always attempt to show that all that they say, is implied by a word, construction, affix, case or personal termination.