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THE NYAYASŪTRA COMMENTARIAL TRADITION
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Tīrabhuktiwho may have been the last ruler of the KāmeśvaraOinīvāra dynasty, Kamsanārāyaṇa (Lakşmīnātha). So It seems, though, that he commented only upon the first adhyāya in Mithilā and then, during the troubled times following the overthrow of the Kāmeśvaras, left the region; the remaining adhyāya-s were expounded by him while he was 'happily teaching the philosophical world views of Nyāya and Vedānta in Kāśī,' as he states in his introductory verses to these chapters. 81 Chapters one, three and four are dated 1553, 1557 and 1560 (i.e., Laksmana era 434, 438 and 441) respectively in the manuscript preserved at Kameshwar Singh Darbhanga Sanskrit University; should this manuscript actually be a rare autograph, as suggested by the editor of the work, Kishor Nath Jha,82 this would mean that Keśava did not return to Mithilā after the Darbhanga Raj had been granted by Akbar to Mahesa Thakkura- allegedly in recognition of his abridged translation of the Akbarnāma into Sanskrit under the title Sarvadeśavrttāntasangraha83 - but chose to continue teaching in the city of Kāšī,84 where Mahesa Thakkura himself had studied Mīmāmsā and Vedānta under Rāmeśvara Bhatta of the famous Gādhi family before he acquired the Raj. The autograph of the Gautamīyasūtraprakāśa, however, must eventually have found its way from Kāśī to Mithilā. Jha identifies Keśava as one of the pandits who contributed to the Kavindracandrodaya, the 'Festschrift' that was compiled to praise Kavīndrācārya Sarasvati for having convinced the Moghul ruler Shah Jahan to abolish the tax for pilgrims visiting Kāśī and Prayāga earlier introduced by him. 86 Indeed, four verses in this compilation were composed by a certain Keśava Miśra, the twelfth of the altogether 69 contributors;8? however, as this tax must have been abolished at least some years after 1628, the year of Shah Jahan's
79 Cf. GSP 24, 14 and GSP 70, 4, quoted above in n. 75. Cf. also the initial verse of his Alark ārasekhara quoted in Jha (1978: [4)). 80 Cf. Bhattacharya (1958: 188), Jha (1978: [3]). On Laksminātha cf. Chakravarti (1915b: 430–431). 81 Cf. GSP 25, 11-12, 71, 3-4 and 98, 5-6 quoted in n. 75 above. Cf. also Thakur (1976: 265). 82 Cf. Jha (1978: [2]). 83 Cf. Sarma (2002: 74–75). 84 It has to be noted, though, that at the end of adhyāya 3 the reference to Keśava Miśra's position at the court of Mithilā is repeated; cf. n. 75 above. 85 Cf. Shastri (1912: 9) and Bhattacharya (1958: 173–175); cf. also Benson (2001: 112). It is chronologically almost impossible that Mahesa Thakkura spent his last years in Kaśī studying with Rāmeśvara Bhatta, as stated by Mishra (1966: 360). 86 Cf. Jha (1978: [3]). 87 Cf. Gode (1954: 366) and Upadhyaya (1994: 85).