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Anandavardhana's Contribution to Research Methodology
C. Panduranga Bhatta
The aim of research is to advance over the knowledge already possessed in a subject. The ancient Indian teacher was expected to make his student superior to himself in the acquirement of the stock of knowledge. This is proven by the ancient Indian saying 'sisyāt parābhavamicchet' (A teacher should invite defeat at the hands of his students). By preparing students superior to what he himself was, the teacher in Ancient India was expected to effect the progress of his branch of knowledge. Ancient Indian thinkers encouraged the dissemination of knowledge, as is evident in the following
verse;
अपूर्वः कोऽपि कोशोऽयं विद्यते तव भारत । व्ययतो वृद्धिमायाति क्षयमायाति संचयात् ॥
It may be said that the contribution of knowledge may be either by discovering new truths as such or by revising and correcting the existing knowledge of truths and thereby presenting the known truths in a new light.
The history of Sanskrit poetics bears ample evidence of how each successive thinker has taken off from the point at which some previous thinker has left the state of knowledge, either by adding to it or by revising it. The search for the ultimate reality in the field of the Sanskrit poetics led to the emergence of various concepts. Each concept regard one or the other aspect as the soul of poetry. This process of evolution over the centuries marks clear advancement in formulating norms of evaluation of the poetic composition, from gross to more subtle aspects. Anandavardhana was a great poet of both Sanskrit and Prakrit and he had the first hand knowledge of the poetic process. He was well versed in the tenets of Vedānta, Tarka, Mīmamsā,
