Authorship Of Sastitantram

SR No.: 269347
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: G Oberhammer
Publisher: G Oberhammer
Total Pages: 22
Language: English
Classification: Article
File Size: 2 MB

Page 7

tattvam jijñāsamānāya viprāyāsuraye muniḥ / yaduvāca mahattantram duḥkhatrayanivṛttaye || 3 || na tasyadhigamah sakyah kartum varṣaśatairapi/ bhūyastvaditi sañcintya munibhiḥ sūkṣmabuddhibhiḥ || 4 || granthenalpena samkṣipya tadārṣamanusāsanam | nibaddhamamalaprajñaiḥ siṣyānām hitakāmyaya // 5 // pratipakṣaḥ punastasya puruṣeśāṇuvādinaḥ vaināsikāḥ prākṛtikā vikārapuruṣāstathā || 6 || teṣāmicchävighätärthamācāryaiḥ sükṣmabuddhibhiḥ/ racitāḥ sveṣu tantreṣu viṣamästarkagahvaraḥ ||7|| sisyairduravagähäste tattvärthabhrāntabuddhibhiḥ / tasmādīśvarakṛṣṇena samkṣiptärthamidam kṛtam || 8 || saptatyakhyam prakaranam.....10)
The analysis of this passage gives the following result: the transmission of the system is marked by four stages. The Maharşi (Kapila) teaches the extensive Samkhya to the priest Asuri (the remark on the extent of Kapila's teaching is merely an expression of the respectful esteem for the knowledge of a rși). The Muni (this is the title usually given to Pañcaśikha) reduces the system to human dimensions and renders it accessible to the pupils. Only in the third stage of the transmission is the Muni's work enlarged by the Acarya (the common expression for the teachers of the classical period in the Yuktidiīpikā) into an extensive work by discussions on the tenets of the opponents. This work has again been abridged by Isvarakṛṣṇa into his Samkhyakarika by leaving out polemics and similes 11). As there is a clear statement that the Kārikā is based upon the former comprehensive description of the Samkhya and since there is a further remark that it treats of the sixty concepts", it can be taken for certain that the work in question is the Sastitantram and that it cannot be a work of the Muni (Pañcasikha). So much for the testimony of the old commentaries.
10) Yuktidīpikā, p. 1, 6-18.
11) Samkhyakārikā Kā. 72:
saptatyam kila ye'rthaste'rthāḥ kṛtsnasya ṣastitantrasya akhyāyikävirahitaḥ paravadavivar jitāścāpi.
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