________________ INTRODUCTION XXV Dr. Vidyabhushana has fixed the date of Vinitadeva near about 700 A.D. He has also mentioned one independent work called Samaya-bhedoparachana-chakra composed by Vinitadeva.1 2. The Commentary by Santabhadra :-Acharya Santabhadra also did comment upon the Nyaya-bindu. Rahulji did not mention the name of Santabhadra in his Appendix to Vada-nyaya. But from the commentary by Durveka and the Nyaya-bindu-fika- . tippana (pp. 15, 36, 53, 67, 70, 111, 118) it is clear that even before Dharmottara, a commentator named Santabhadra had flourished, whose views have been criticised by Dharmottara himself.2 According to the Nyaya-vini schaya-vivarana (p. 526) Acharya Akalanka has refuted the views of Santabhadra. Therefore, Santabhadra should be placed before both Dharmottara and Akala ka. The date of Akalanka is c. 720-780 A.D. Hence, Santabhadra should be placed before 700 A.D. He can be an elder contemporary of Dharmottara. Durveka mentions Vinitadeva and Santabhadra together.3 This would suggest that the philosophical viewpoint of these authors was more or less similar. 3. The commentary by Dharmottara :-Fortunately we have a commentary on Nyaya-bindu by Dharmottara himself in original Sanskrit. This commentary is very brief and its extent is equal to 1477 flokas. It states the position of Dharmakirti quite explicitly. The existence of a good number of sub-commentaries on this text is a proof of its being considered as a very good commentary. It has been translated in Tibetan also. Jnanagarbha, an Indian scholar and Dharmaloka, a Tibetan scholar, translated it into Tibetan. It is extant in Stan-hgyur-mdo (X. 1). Dharmottara is the initiator of the philosophical commentaries on the works of Dharmakirti. The commentaries composed before him were philological. Dharmottara was a pupil of Kalyanarakshita and Dharma 1 History of Indian Logic, p. 321. 2 Dharmottara-pradipa, pp. 5, 31, 32, 61. 3 Ibid; p. 5, 31.
