Bhaṭṭa Jayanta: Comprehension, Knowledge, and the Reduction of Testimony to Inference

Authors

  • Alessandro Graheli Austrian Academy of Sciences and University of Vienna

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.13135/1825-263X/2270

Keywords:

Jayanta, Nyāya, Mīmāṃsā, epistemology, epistemology of testimony, non-committal understanding

Abstract

The present paper is an analysis of the defense of the epistemological autonomy of verbal testimony (śabda), against its reduction to inference, as found in Bhaṭṭa Jayanta’s Nyāyamañjarī. The article identifies the Vaiśeṣika, Buddhist and Sāṅkhya positions hinted at in the Nyāyamañjarī, and it analyses the reuse by Jayanta of the arguments conceived by the Mīmāṃsā philosopher Kumārila. Unlike for Mīmāṃsakas, according to Jayanta the relation between language and reality is established by convention, but in its day-to-day usage it is clear that an a priori connection is a necessary condition for linguistic communication, so that the distinction between a fixed connection and a conventional one weakens. The analysis of Jayanta leads to two general conclusions: 1. In ancient Nyāya as attested by Jayanta there is no distinction between non-committal understanding and committal knowledge from words. Consequently, 2. in ancient Nyāya as attested by Jayanta the language is primarily examined from an epistemological viewpoint, as the conveyer of true statements. There are no “neutral” statements, and false statements are in fact inappropriate uses of language.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biography

Alessandro Graheli, Austrian Academy of Sciences and University of Vienna

Alessandro Graheli (University of Vienna and Austrian Academy of Sciences) studied Sanskrit and Indian Philosophy in India and in Italy. His fields of research include Nyāya, textual criticism, philosophy of language, theories of knowledge, hermeneutics, aesthetics, and medieval bhakti. He is currently principal investigator of a project on the translation of the Nyāyamañjarī at the Austrian Academy of Sciences. Apart from other articles and book contributions on Nyāya, bhakti and philology, he is the author of History and Transmission of the Nyāyamañjarī: Critical Edition of the Section on the Sphoṭa (Vienna 2016).

References

Abbreviated Primary Sources

CVṛ Muni Jambuvijaya, ed. 1961. Vaiśeṣikasūtra of Kaṇāda with the Commentary of Candrānanda. Baroda: Oriental Institute of Baroda.

DN Muni Jambuvijaya, ed. 1976. Dvādaśāram Nayacakram of Ācārya Śrī Māllavādi Kṣamāśramaṇa. Bhavnagar: Śrī Jain Ātmānand Sabhā.

GBhSha Nagin J. Shah, ed. 1972. Cakradhara’s Nyāyamañjarī-granthibhaṅga. Lalbhai Dalpatbhai series, 35. Ahmedabad: L. D. Institute of Indology.

K “Thenjipalam (Malappuram District), Malayalam Department of the University of Calicut, ms. 2606.” Undated; foll. 188; cm. 5 × 48 ca.; palm-leaf; Malayalam. Contains the complete NM 1-6 and about one third of NM 7. In the original foliation, the first leaf is foliated as śrī, and is followed by foll. 1-187 in letter numerals.

NBhTha “Nyāyabhāṣya.” Anantalal Thakur, ed. 1997b. Gautamīyanyāyadarśana with Bhāṣya of Vātsyāyana. Nyāyacaturgranthikā 1. New Delhi: Indian Council of Philosophical Research.

NBh-NSū Anantalal Thakur, ed. 1997a. Gautamīyanyāyadarśana with Bhāṣya of Vātsyāyana. Nyāyacaturgranthikā 1. New Delhi: Indian Council of Philosophical Research. For the first chapter, it is the revised edition of the same author’s edition of the Nyāyacaturgranthikā, Adhyāya 1 (Darbhanga: Mithila Institute Series Ancient Text 20, 1967).

NMKKe “Nyāyamañjarī: Kumārila’s Criticism of Apoha.” Kei Kataoka, ed. 2008. “A Critical Edition of Bhaṭṭa Jayanta’s Nyāyamañjarī: The Section on Kumārila’s Refutation of the Apoha Theory.” The Memoirs of the Institute of Oriental Culture 154: 1-31.

NMShu Suryanarayana Shukla, ed. 1936. Nyāyamañjarī: Gautamasūtratātpāryavivṛti. 2 vols. Kashi Sanskrit Series, 106. Benares: Jaya Krishna Das Haridas Gupta, Vidya Vilas Press.

NMVa K. S. Varadacharya, ed. 1969-1983. Nyāyamañjarī: with Ṭippaṇī Nyāyasaurabha. 2 vols. Mysore: Oriental Research Institute.

NSū “Nyāyasūtra.” Anantalal Thakur, ed. 1997c. Gautamīyanyāyadarśana with Bhāṣya of Vātsyāyana. Nyāyacaturgranthikā 1. New Delhi: Indian Council of Philosophical Research. For the first chapter, it is the revised edition of the same author’s edition of the Nyāyaca-turgranthikā, Adhyāya 1 (Darbhanga: Mithila Institute Series Ancient Text 20, 1967).

NVT Anantalal Thakur, ed. 1996. Nyāyavārttikatātparyaṭīkā of Vācaspatimiśra. Nyāyacaturgranthikā 3. New Delhi: Indian Council of Philosophical Research.

P “Pune, Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, ms. 390/1875-76.” Saka 1394 [CE 1472]; foll. 432; mm. 130 × 130; birch-bark, bound; Sarada. The manuscript is presently constituted of 432 leaves (435 according to Cat. Report 1875, p. XXV). The original foliation runs up to NM 3 and restarts from NM 4: 3-149 (= NM 1-3) + 1-270 (= NM 4-12) + 282-286 (an unidentified work) + 7 (parts of Raghuvaṃśa 15. 11-78). Except for occasional missing leaves, the NM is complete. The first two folios are lost.

Pā Svami Prahlad Giri, ed. 1985. Aṣṭādhyāyīsūtrapāṭha of Pāṇini. Varanasi: Kṛṣṇadāsa Acade-my.

ŚBh Kashinath Vasudev Abhyankar and Ganesh Shastri Ambadas Joshi, eds. 1970-1974. Mīmāṃsādarśana. Ānandāśramasaṃskṛtagranthāvāli 97. Vol. 1: MS 1.1, with Śābarabhāṣya and Prabhābhidhā commentary by Vaidyanath Shastri. Vol. 2: MS 1.2-2.1, with Śābarabhāṣya and Tantravārttika. Vol. 3: MS 2.2-2.4, with Śābarabhāṣya and Tantravārttika. Vol. 4: MS 3.1-3.8, with Śābarabhāṣya and Tantravārttika. Vol. 5: MS 4.1-7.4, with Śābarabhāṣya and Ṭupṭīkā. Vol. 6: MS 8.1-10.8, with Śābarabhāṣya and Ṭupṭīkā. Vol. 7: MS 11.1-12.4, with Śābarabhāṣya and Ṭupṭīkā. Pune: Anandasrama. 1st ed. 1930-1933.

ŚVDva Śāstrī Dvārikādāsa, ed. 1978. Ślokavārttika of Śrī Kumārila Bhaṭṭa with the Commentary Nyāyaratnākara of Śrī Pārthasārathi Miśra. Prāchyabhārati Series 10. Varanasi.

ŚVRa “Ślokavārttika”. S. K. Ramanatha Shastri, ed. 1971. Ślokavārttikavyākhyā Tātparyaṭīkā of Umveka Bhaṭṭa. Revised by K. Kunjunni Raja and R. Thangaswamy. Madras: University of Madras. 1st ed. 1940.

VD Gopinath Kaviraj and Dhundhiraj Shastri, eds. 1925. The Praśastapādabhāṣya with Sūktiṭīkā, Setuvyākhyā and Vyomavatī. Printed by Jai Krishna Das Gupta at the Vidya Vilas Press. Varanasi: Chowkhamba Sanskrit Series Office.

Further Primary Sources

Frauwallner, Erich, ed. 1968. Materialien zur ältesten Erkenntnislehre der Karmamīmāṃsā. Veröffentlichungen der Kommission für Sprachen und Kulturen Süd- und Ostasiens 6. Wien: Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften.

Jhalakı̄kara, Bhı̄mācārya. 1996 (1874). Nyāyakośa. Pune: Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute.

Kataoka, Kei, ed. 2008. “A Critical Edition of Bhaṭṭa Jayanta’s Nyāyamañjarī: The Section on Kumārila’s Refutation of the Apoha Theory.” The Memoirs of the Institute of Oriental Culture 154: 1-31.

Kataoka, Kei, ed. 2013. “A Critical Edition of Bhaṭṭa Jayanta’s Nyāyakalikā. First Part.” The Memoirs of the Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia 163: 1-53.

Muni Jambuvijaya, ed. 1961. Vaiśeṣikasūtra of Kaṇāda with the Commentary of Candrānanda. Baroda: Oriental Institute of Baroda.

Muni Jambuvijaya, ed. 1976. Dvādaśāram Nayacakram of Ācārya Śrı̄ Māllavādi Kṣamāśramaṇa. Bhavnagar: Śrı̄ Jain Ātmānand Sabhā.

Prahlad Giri, Svami, ed. 1985. Aṣṭādhyāyīsūtrapāṭha of Pāṇini. Varanasi: Kṛṣṇadāsa Academy.

Sankrtyayana, Rahula, ed. 1937. Pramāṇavārttika of Dharmakīrti. Patna.

Thakur, Anantalal, ed. 1996. Nyāyavārttikatātparyaṭīkā of Vācaspatimiśra. Nyāyacaturgranthikā 3. New Delhi: Indian Council of Philosophical Research.

Secondary Sources

Bhattacharyya, Sibajiban. 2001. “Some Aspects of the Navya-Nyāya Theory of Inference”. In Indian Logic: A Reader, edited by Jonardon Ganeri, 162-182. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon Press. Originally published in 1987.

Chakrabarti, Arindam. 1994. “Telling as Letting Know.” In Knowing from Words, edited by Bimal Krishna Matilal and Arindam Chakrabarti, 99-124. Dordrecht: Kluwer.

Coady, Cecil Anthony John [usually “Coady, C.A.J.”]. 1994. “Testimony, Observation and “Autonomous knowledge”.” In Knowing from Words, edited by Bimal Krishna Matilal and Arindam Chakrabarti, 225-250. Dordrecht: Kluwer.

Freschi, Elisa and Artemij Keidan. Forthcoming. “Understanding a philosophical text: a multi-disciplinary approach to the problem of “meaning” in Jayanta’s Nyāyamañjarī, book 5.” In Jayanta on Buddhist Nominalism, edited by Patrick McAllister and Parimal Patil. Wien: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.

Gadamer, Hans-Georg. 2000. Verità e metodo. Milano: Bompiani.

Ganeri, Jonardon. 1996. “Meaning and Reference in Classical India.” Journal of Indian Philosophy 24: 1-19.

Ganeri, Jonardon. 1999. Semantic Powers. New York: Oxford University Press.

Ganeri, Jonardon, ed. 2001. Indian Logic. A Reader. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon Press.

Graheli, Alessandro. 2012. “The choice of the best reading in Jayanta Bhaṭṭa’s Nyāyamañjarı̄.” In The Study of Asia between Antiquity and Modernity, edited by Elisa Freschi et al. Special issue of RSO (Rivista degli Studi Orientali) 84: 107-122.

Graheli, Alessandro. 2015. History and Transmission of the Nyāyamañjarı̄. Critical Edition of the Section on the Sphoṭa. Wien: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.

Graheli, Alessandro. 2016. “The Force of Tātparya: Bhaṭṭa Jayanta and Abhinavagupta.” In Around Abhinavagupta - Aspects of the Intellectual History of Kashmir from the 9th to the 11th Centuries, edited by Eli Franco and Isabelle Ratié. Leipzig: LIT Verlag.

Hattori, Masaaki. 1996. “Discussions on Jātimat as the Meaning of a Word.” In Śrı̄jñānāmṛtam - A Memorial Volume in Honour of Prof. Shri Niwas Shastri, edited by Vijaya Rani. Delhi: Parimal Publications.

Hattori, Masaaki. 2000. “Dignāga’s Theory of Meaning. An Annotated Translation of the Pramāṇasamuccayavṛtti. Chapter V: Anyāpoha-parı̄kṣā (I).” In Wisdom, Compassion, and the Search for Understanding, edited by J. A. Silk, 137-146. Studies in the Buddhist Traditions 3. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press.

Matilal, Bimal Krishna. 1994. “Understanding, Knowing and Justification.” In Knowing from

Words, edited by Bimal Krishna Matilal and Arindam Chakrabarti, 347-366. Dordrecht: Kluwer.

Matilal, Bimal Krishna. 1998. The Character of Logic in India. Edited by Jonardon Ganeri and Heeraman Tiwari. Albany: State University of New York Press.

Matilal, Bimal Krishna. 2001. “Introducing Indian Logic.” In Indian Logic: a Reader, edited by Jonardon Ganeri, 183-215. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon Press. Originally published in 1998.

Matilal, Bimal Krishna and Arindam Chakrabarti, eds. 1994. Knowing from Words. Western and Indian Philosophical Analysis of Understanding and Testimony. Dordrecht: Kluwer.

Potter, Karl H., ed. 1977. Indian Metaphysics and Epistemology: the tradition of Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika up to Gaṅgeśa. Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies, vol. 2. Princeton, Delhi: Princeton University Press, Motilal Banarsidass.

Schayer, Stanislaw. 2001. “On the Method of Research into Nyāya.” In Indian Logic: a Reader, edited by Jonardon Ganeri, 102-109. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon Press. Originally published in 1933.

Taber, John A. 1996. “Is Verbal Testimony a Form of Inference?” Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences 3.2: 19-31.

Downloads

Published

2018-11-19

Issue

No. 21 (2017)

Section

There in only ‘Philosophy:’ The case of Testimony

License

Gli autori che pubblicano su Kervan accettano le seguenti condizioni:

  1. Gli autori mantengono i diritti sulla loro opera e cedono alla rivista il diritto di prima pubblicazione dell'opera, contemporaneamente licenziata sotto una Licenza Creative Commons - Attribuzione che permette ad altri di condividere l'opera indicando la paternità intellettuale e la prima pubblicazione su questa rivista.
  2. Gli autori possono aderire ad altri accordi di licenza non esclusiva per la distribuzione della versione dell'opera pubblicata (es. depositarla in un archivio istituzionale o pubblicarla in una monografia), a patto di indicare che la prima pubblicazione è avvenuta su questa rivista.