Some Observations On Manuscript Transmission Of Nyayabhasya

SR No.: 269206
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Yasutaka Muroya
Publisher: Yasutaka Muroya
Total Pages: 42
Language: English
Classification: Article
File Size: 5 MB

Page 13

Some Observations on the Manuscript Transmission of the NBh (Y. Muroya) 35
of the NBh, i.e., the sutra is preceded by Vātsyāyana's introductory words atha-anumānam ("[After the characterization of perception, now inference is characterized)."). 1.1.5 thus begins only with tatpūrvakam. The text of 1.1.5 lacking atha is not supported by other mss. available to us, nor by any printed edition, but is supported by some secondary testimonies such as Dignāga's PSV,43 Jinendrabuddhi's PST,44 the NM (adding an enclitic ca which can be ignored in the present discussion), the NBhüş, 6 the NTD,47 and all three mss. of the sūtrapātha from Trivandrum.48
Uddyotakara's introductory commentary to 1.1.5 does not allow us to determine the status of atha as he perceived it, or whether he had before him an introductory sentence of the NBh as found in the T version of this text. Uddyotakara begins to comment upon 1.1.5 with the following words: atha tatpūrvakam trividham anumānam iti. athety anantarye. anumanavisesaņārtham sūtram.49 Uddyotakara does not explicitly specify
43 Cf. PSV(V) 33b5-6: rigs pa can mams na te de srion du son ba can gyi rjes su dpag pa ni mam pa gsum ste, sria ma dari Idan dari, lhag ma dan Idan pa dari, spyir mthon ba can no zes zer ro.; PSV(K) 115a3-4: rigs can rams ni de srion du 'gro ba can gyi rjes su dpag par ni mam pa gsum ste. sria ma dari Idan pa dari, lhag ma dan Idan pa dari spyi mthor ba'o íes zer ro. (Cf. also Kitagawa 1965: 563); VS(C) 215,9-10 (reconstruction): naiyāyikānām api tatpūrvakam trividham anumānam purvavac chesavat samanyato drstam ceti.
44PST Ms.(B) f. 75v 3: naiyāyikānām [!] ityādi pratyakşārumānopamanasabdāh pramānānīty uddiśya pratyaksalaksane bhihite tadanantaram prāptāvasaram anumānalaksanam āha tatpūrvakam ityādi. I owe this reference to Prof. Steinkellner and his seminar. The relevant part in Ms.(B) of Jinendrabuddhi's PST is currently being critically edited at the Institute for the Cultural and Intellectual History of Asia, Austrian Academy of Sciences. Cf. Steinkellner/Krasser/Lasic 2005.
45Cf. NM(V) 109,21-22 = NM(M) I 282,6-7: tatpūrvakam ca trividham anumānam purvavac chesavat sámányato drstam ca.
46 Cf. NBhūş 189,3-5: athedānim anumānasvarüpam vicāryate - tatpūrvakam trividham anumanam purvavac chesavat sämänyato drstam ceti sutram.
**Cf. NTD 3,19: tatpūrvakam trividham anumanam pūrvavac chesavat sämānyato drstam ca. Jha suggests the supplementation of atha before tatpūrvakam, but GOML(2) (p. 5,1) does not have atha. Thus, the absence of atha is to be favoured as original.
48 ORIML(1) f. lv 3; ORIML(2) f. 1r 4; ORIML(3) f. Ir 7.
*8*After the characterization of perception follows) inference, which is preceded by that (i.e., perception and others), (and) of three kinds. As regards this phrase, the word] 'atha' fis used in the sense of an immediate sequence. The sutra has the purpose of specifying inference." C. NV 41,3-4 EM 292,11-12. The translation is tentative, because the inclusion of atha in 1.1.5 affects it, whereas the other sutra-s defining the means of valid cognition, i.e., 1.1.4, 1.1.6, and 1.1.7, do not pose structural problems. As for the translation of the commonly accepted version of 1.1.5, I have difficulty in following some previous translations that construe tatpūrvakam and trividham as attributes of anumanam; cf. for example, Ruben (1928: 3): "Darauf folgt die auf der Wahrnehmung) beruhende dreifache Folgerung," a translation followed by, e.g., Oberhammer/Prets/Prandstetter (1991: 43r). I would prefer to construe tatpūrvakam as a predicate of anumānam, since the former is the definiens and the latter the definiendum. Cf. NVTT 127,14 = EM 303,4-5: laksyam pramāṇabhedam anumānam anüdya tatpūrvakam iti laksanam vidhatte. Jha (1915: 153) puts tatpūrvakam in a relative clause specifying anumānam: "After Perception comes Inferential Cognition, which is led up to by Perception; it is of three kinds."