Notes On Manuscript Transmission Of Vaisesika Sutra And Its Earliest Commentaries

Author(s): Harunaga Issacson
Publisher: Harunaga Issacson

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yet be found to exist in manuscript form. And besides, we should not neglect to look for material which might allow improvement of the texts of the commentaries already available to us. That such improvement is possible in regard to the texts of our two oldest commentaries, by Candrānanda and Bhatta Vadīndra respectively, is what I shall try to demonstrate in this section and the following one.
The publication in 1961 of the commentary on the VS by Candrānanda formed a landmark in studies of the Vaiseșika. A recension of the VS was hereby made available that was clearly superior to that represented by Sankara Miśra as well as that of Bhatta Vādīndra, which had been published a few years earlier. Besides, the commentary too presented us with several interpretations which, in their simplicity, seemed superior to those of the later scholiasts. Finally, the text was fortunate in its editor, the Jaina luni Jambūvijaya, perhaps the most distinguished scholar to edit a Vaiseșika text. Small wonder then that this publication was received with gratitude and admiration by the most prominent scholars working in the field. 25
Jambūvijaya's edition is indeed a good one, perhaps one of the most satisfactory editions of a classical Indian philosophical text. Still, it may be truely said that no edition is ever really definitive, and in the course of examining the manuscripts of Candrānanda's commentary I have been brought to the conclusion that further progress is possible in regard to this text. At present I am working on a new edition of the commentary. That this is not wholly superfluous labour I shall try to demonstrate in the following. But if some of my remarks are critical, I should stress that they intend no disrespect, nor can they lessen the lasting merit of Jambūvijaya's work.
Two manuscripts form the basis for Jambūvijaya's edition; a Sāradā manuscript in the Oriental Institute, Baroda, and a manuscript in Jaina Devanāgari script, at that time in the possession of the well-known Jaina scholar Muni Punyavijaya. No other manuscripts are mentioned, and we may' assume none were known to him. The Jaina Devanāgarī manuscript has now passed into the collection of the L.D. Institute, Ahmedabad.26 I am indebted to the kindness and efforts of Muni Jambūvijaya, Prof. A. Wezler and the authorities of this institute for a photocopy. The Baroda Sāradā manuscript I was allowed to photograph.
251 may refer especially to the English introduction contributed by Anantalal Thakur and the review by E. Frauwallner in the WZKSO, 1962.
26 As far as I am aware, it has yet to be catalogued.
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