Book Title: Notes On Manuscript Transmission Of Vaisesika Sutra And Its Earliest Commentaries
Author(s): Harunaga Issacson
Publisher: Harunaga Issacson
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NOTES ON THE MANUSCRIPT TRANSMISSION OF THE VAISESIKASUTRA
AND ITS EARLIEST COMMENTARIES
Harunaga Isaacson (University of Groningen)
In view of the textual problems commentary on the Vaiseșikasurrounding the Vaiśeşikasūtra an sūtra. It is shown that a reexamination of the surviving ma- examination of the manuscripts nuscript evidence is an urgent can lead to improvement of the desideratum, as was emphasized text. Two manuscripts not used by A. Wezler in an article pub- in the published edition are introlished in 1982. A start in this di- duced. Section V contains obserrection has been made, and some vations on the two versions of the of the findings thus far are pre- commentary by Bhatta Vādīndra sented in this paper. Section I in- on the Vaiśeşikasūtra. Substantroduces the problem and summa- tial improvements over the pubrizes earlier work. In sections II lished text of the abridged version and ill two manuscripts contain- proved to be possible, especially ing the sutrapatha alone are re- with the aid of the palm-leaf maported on; both are shown to di- nuscript which was not available verge extensively from the pub- to the editor. Section vi concludes lished recensions of the text. Sec- by offering some general remarks, tion IV discusses Candrānanda's chiefly on questions of method.
Anyone who attempts to study the Vaiseşikasūtra (VS) will soon enough be confronted with problems resulting from the defective transmission of this text. This is a fact that has often been remarked on, but to date the best summary of the situation is that found in the opening pages of A. Wezler's article in the Festschrift for J.W. de Jong. Among other points, Wezler
For access to or copies of manuscripts referred to in this article I am indebted to the authorities of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute (Poona), the L.D. Institute (Ahmedabad), the Oriental Institute, M.S. University of Baroda, the Asiatic Society, Calcutta, and Kerala University Manuscripts Library (Trivandrum). I am very grateful to Prof. Dr. A. Wezler for help in acquiring copies of several manuscripts and for his kind encouragement in the work reported on here.
Wezler 1982, 643–648. Among earlier publications which discuss the general problems posed by the textual situation of the VS, one might mention in particular Thakur 1963a and the introduction contributed by Thakur to Muni Jambūvijaya's edition of the VS together with Candrānanda's commentary.
