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SOME SANSKRIT-FRAGMENTS OF JINENDRABUDDHI'S
VISĀLĀMALAVATI
Ernst Steinkellner
A thorough and comprehensive study of the Buddhist tradition of epistemology and logic has been impeded to some extent by the fact, that only a few works of the school have been transmitted in their original language, Sanskrit. While in the early days of researh one dealt practically with Dharmakirti's Nyāyabindu and Dharmottara's commentary alone, the fortunate finds of Sanskrit manuscripts in the vaults of some Tibetan monasteries made by Rāhula Sānkstyāyana during his journeys in 1929, 1934, 1936 and 1938° considerably enhanced the material in the original language. Some of the major works of the school, e.g. Dharmakirti's Pramānavārttika (ed. 1938) and Vādanyāya (ed. 1935-36), and some important commentaries, e.g. Karņakagomin's subcommentary on the Pramāņavārttikasvavștti (ed. 1943), Prajñākaragupta's Pramāņavārttikabhāşya (ed. 1953), Sāntaraksita's Vādanyāyaţikā (ed. 1935-30) and Manorathanandin's Pramāņavārttikavstti (ed. 1938-40), being available since put our knowledge of the school's literature and ideas on a firm basis.
At the same time the Tibetan translations of these and many other works prove, nevertheless, to be indispensible. For, where we have the original text, they are a reliable testimony for the condition of the extant text and a decisive help in any emendatory work, and where the original is lost, they are our only source. The latter is the case, e.g., not only with Dharmakirti's second major work, the. Pramāņaviniścaya, and the oldest commentaries on the Pramāņavārttika, by Devendrabuddhi and Sāk yamati, and on the Pramāņaviniscaya, by Dharmottara, but also with Dignāga's Pramāṇasamuccaya
