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XLIII
In course of time there arose some other minor schools of Vedāntic thought which have been summarized by Madhavācārya in his Sarva
darśanasangraha. The sixteen systems here disOther minor
cussed attracted to their study the noblest minds in on the Vedānta. India throughout the mediæval period of its history.
Of them nine, six orthodox and three heterodox schools are mainly discussed in the pages of this book. The Rāmānuja school of thought is also referred to. The remaining six, viz., the Pūrņaprajña, the Nakulīšapāśupata, the Saiva, the Pratyabhijñā (Recognitive), the Raseśvara (Mercurial) and the Pāṇini are the minor ones that also arose from the Vedänta. Of these minor schools five others except the Panini are more or less influenced by the Tantra. The development of the Panini school is due to Patañjali's Mahābhāşya and BhartȚhari's Vākyapadiya which clearly explain the philosophy of grammar. (Laterly, the neologicians of Bengal also further developed the philosophy of grammar or better, the science of language to its highest pitch in the Sabdaśaktiprakāśikā of Jagadisa and the Śaktivada, Vyutpattivāda, etc. of Gadadhara. This latest school of development is ordinarily known as the Vādārtha Šāstra or the science of Linguistics.)