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THE NYAYASŪTRA COMMENTARIAL TRADITION
is given to the discussion of the extent and names of the prakarana-s'24 as well as of their mutual relationship and pertinence (sangati);"25 individual readings of sūtra-s, their extent and order are also discussed. 126 Here and in the discussion of disputed sūtra-s Vamśadhara often agrees with Keśava Miśra's verdict. It can therefore be assumed that he utilized the Gautamīyasūtraprakāśa when composing his work, additionally borrowing the references to earlier commentaries from it.121 In one of his introductory verses, Vamśadhara mentions his exclusive desire for discernment and claims that accomplishment in discernment between what is true and false (right and wrong) will result in the disappearance of low-minded persons in this world.128 Could it be that with the term discernment (viveka) Vamsadhara also refers to his textcritical approach towards the Nyāyasūtra?
To sum up and conclude: In the eleventh century, when treatises written in the old style of proliferating sub-commentaries, sub-subcommentaries, etc., on the Nyāyasūtra were no longer considered adequate to effectively counter the increasingly sophisticated challenge of the Buddhist epistemologists, this type of literary production was discontinued and gave way to more focussed independent treatises which subsequently flourished, unburdened or unimpeded by the task of Sūtra exegesis and apologetics. After the demise of Buddhism in India and the firm establishment of Muslim rule in the north, related but categorically distinct external factors which must have jointly influenced the motivation of scholars, we can observe, in the
124 Cf. e.g., the discussion and rejection of Tarani Miśra's opinion, expressed in his Bhāsva, that Nyāyasütra 3.1.12-14 form a separate prakarana (Sen 1980: 114-115), to be compared with the one in the GSP (cf. n. 102 above); cf. also Sen, 1980: 123
124.
125 Cf. Sen (1980: 109-110). 126 Cf. Sen (1980: 106-107, 109, 116-117, 125-126, 127-128). 127 Cf. also Sen (1980: 129). The earlier commentaries, as mentioned in the Nyāyatattvapariksā and listed by Sen, are the Nyāyabhäsya, Nyāyavärttika, (Nyāyavārttikatātparya) sīkā, Nibandha (i.e., Parisuddhi), Bhāskara (cf. Sen, 1980: 106, and abovę, p. 80), Tattvabodha and Nyāyanibandhaprakāśa; the names of Sānātani (cf. Sen, 1980: 127-128; cf. nn. 33 and 93 above), Tarani Miśra (cf. Sen, 1980: 114-115; cf. nn. 37 and 102 above) and Vidyāsāgara (cf. Sen, 1980: 109, p. 80 above and already Thakur, 1976: 265), next to Keśava Miśra himself (cf. Sen, 1980: 107), suggest references to further commentaries on the Nyäyasūtra (cf. Sen, 1980: 102-103). 128 Cf. introductory verse no. 1 at the beginning of the second āhnika of the first adhyāya (SBL mss. no. 31556 fol. 41v 4-5 and no. 31557 fol. 37r 8-9; quoted from the Mithila Research Institute ms. in Sen (1980: 101): tvām vāņi vamıśadharasūrir upāsya mātar ekam vivekam abhilasapadanı* karoti / jātodaye sadasator vimale viveke loke na ke 'pi puruṣāḥ krpanā bhavanti //. * Both SBL mss. read abhilāşapade