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upon the statements of Akşapāda; thus Vamsadhara was Gokulanātha's sister's son (bhāgineya), which fits well with the fact that Mangalavanī is the native village of the well-known Naiyāyika Gokulanātha. "12 Jagannātha must have assumed the role of the principal teacher of Vamsadhara while his elder brother was busy as a scholar at the court of the Kāmeśvara ruler Rāghava Simha or after he had departed for Kāśi, where he passed away at the age of ninety." This is corroborated by the fact that according to the sarayantra declaration of Datta Sarman's (cf. below) the ānvīkșikī vidyā is said to have passed on from Gokulanātha to Jagannātha to Vamśadhara."14 Vamsadhara, himself of the Dariharā family,"15 is also said to have enjoyed the patronage of Rāghava Simha of Mithilā 16 and, like several other members - including of course Gokulanātha - of the learned family of his mother and of his scholarly lineage, passed the highly demanding sarayantra examination, thus succeeding his uncle
"! Cf. SBL mss. no. 31556 (fol. lv1-2) and 31557 (fol. lv 1-2); Mangalavani ms. (= M) (Mitra and Sastri, 1990: 193-194): sūror go'kulanāthatas tadanujād yo va jagannāthataḥ śambhoh prāpimayā
kşapädavacanavyākhyāvidhir mätulāt / tati vam güdham api svabhāvagahane nyāye pariciksisoh śrīmadvamśadharas ya me 'tra
saranam sarvārthacintamanih /l. Ms. no. 31557: kuo-; - M: missing due to damage to leaf; ' Ms. no. 31556: sambho, M: missing due to damage; Mss. no. 31556 and 31557: satrvam ca cintamanih This verse is very similar to the third introductory verse to Vamśadhara's Anumānadidhititativaparikṣā quoted in Sen (1980: 100) (who there reads gurvoh instead of sūroh in the beginning, and satkrsnacintamanih[?] instead of sar vārthacintāmanih in the last pāda). The second introductory verse to the Nyāyatati vapariksā according to SBL mss. no. 31556 (fol. lv 2-3) and 31557 (fol. lv 2-3) as well as M reads as follows: mätulaśrījagannāthâd adhitya nyāyadarśanam/ śrīmadvamśadharas tatra tattvam samyak parikșate' //. 'Ms. no. 31556: pariksite, M: pariksyate 112 Cf. Jha (1965: xiii, xv) and Sen (1980: 105). 113 Cf. Bhattacharya (1958: 195-196), where Mädhava must be a mistake for Rāghava. Madhava Simha Bahadur became the ruler of Mithilā only in 1785. 114 Cf. Jha (1947: 310): iyam anvīksikī vidyā ... mahāmahopādhyāyagokulanāthaśarmasu sthapitā ... tato pi mahamahopadhyayajagannāthadvitiyena jagannathaśarmaņā samāsāditā tataś ca mahāmahopādhyāyavamsadharaśarmanālambhi .... Jha (1947: 322) speculates that Jagannātha may have taken upon himself the teaching of his sister's son after his elder brother had passed away. However, at least at the time of the completion of the Nyāyatattvaparīkşā Gokulanātha may have been still alive; cf. Bhattacharya (1958: 195) who argues that he must have died in the decade 1730-1740. His Cf. Jha (1947: 318 and 322-323), Jha (1965: xiii). 116 CC. Jha (1965: xv). The Khandavala family, which had assumed the dynastic 'surname' Thakkura after the acquisition of the Darbhanga Raj, changed its name to Simha from the time of Rāghava Simha onwards; cf. Mishra (1966: 357, n. 1) and Choudhary (1970: 171).