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INTRODUCTION
19
According to M. D. Desai, the commentator Guņa-Vijaya Gaại completed his Țaka in 1632 A.D. Thus, Sagadhara's NSD was a compuIsory textbook for Navya-nyāya by 1600 A. D. It was studied along with Kiraņāyalı, Kusumanjali and Tattvacintamani.
(3) Śaśadhara referred to Vadi Vāgıśvara as follows: "Vadi-Vagiśvaras tu suvarnam na parthiyam tathāvidhanalasamyoge sati bhaşmanarambhakatvad ity aha - tad api tuccham"
The Commentator Śeşānanta rightly identified him with the author of Māna-manohara. The text of Mana-manohara has been published only recently by Swami Yogindrananda in Varanasi ( in 1973). I located the passage that Saśadhara had in mind (p. 19):
“Vivadadhyasitaḥ paramāņavo na parthivaḥ atyantānalasamyoge sati bhașmanarambhakatvat, jala-paramānu-vat”.
It is significant that Śaśadhara referred to Vāds Vāgıśvara in the singular (cf, Vadi-Vāgisvaras tu ... ...ity aha). This indicates that Vadı Vagiśvara of the 12th century A.D. was a close contemporary of Śaśadhara. If Vādi Vāgiśvara had flourished much earlier thao Śaśadhara, one would then expect the plural number to be used in such a reference (cf. gaurave bahuvacanam).
(4) The discovery of Gunaratna Gaại's commentary on the four chapters of NSD throws much light on the problem of Śaśadhara's date. This Gunaratna must be identified with the author of Şaddarśanasamuccayatika and Kriyāratna-samuccaya (see below), and hence he must be placed between 1363 A.D. and 1439 A.D. (S. C. Vidyabhusana, History of the Medieval School of Indian logic, Calcutta, 1909, p. 52-53). Neither D. C. Bhattacharya nor S. C. Vidyabhusana (nor Pandit Dhundhiraj) kaew about the existence of Gunaratna's commentary on NSD. Only in the recent publication of the Manuscript-catalogue of the L. D. Institute, did it come to light that Gunaratna wrote a commentary on the NSD. Neither in the Saddarśanasamuccaya-tika nor in the NSD-Țika did Gunaratna mention Gangesa-a fact that shows that Gangeśa's fame as a Navya-nyāya author was yet to reach Western India at the time of Gunaratna. Seşānanta the author of NSD-Prabha, an extensive commentary on NSD, probably belonged to 1450-1500 A.D., and he did not come from Mithilā. D. C. Bhattacharya reported that Jayadeva Pakşadhara Miśra of Mithila wrote a commentary on NSD, a manusctipt of which was preserved at Varanasi (p. 90, 119). The tentative name of this commentary was Saśadharavyakhya. But D. C. Bhattacharya was unable to see or examine this manuscript personally. In my recent visit to Benares, I tried to locate this manuscript but failed. Thus, now I have doubt whether Jayadeva wrote a commentary on NSD at
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