Siddhi Vinischay Tika Part 01

Author(s): Anantviryacharya
Publisher: Bharatiya Gyanpith

Page 11

is the religion of such a large population of the world, it has attracted Western thinkers and many educated men in India have begun to acquire a fair knowledge of its basic principles through English translations. Jainism has, unfortunately, not received similar treatment.
Shri Mahendra Kumar Jain has rendered a very valuable service to Indian philosophy by editing the Siddhi Vinishchaya Tika. The author of the book was Akalanka who himself wrote a Vritti or notes on the book and then Anantvirya wrote the tika or commentary. Although quotations from the book have been found plentifully in a number of books on Nyaya, a copy of the original manuscript was, for the first time, found in the year 1926. It required a good deal of editing and Shri Mahendra Kumar has had to amend the extant text in more places than one. This is not to be wondered at. Akalanka flourished somewhere about the 7th or 8th century of the Christian era. The political upheavals which the country under went in the following centuries were responsible, as we know to our cost, for the destruction and loss of a large number of valuable books some of which are known today, if at all, only by name. In a period when the preservation of a manuscript was a task requiring all the ingenuity and courage of which a man was capable, it was difficult to preserve purity and completeness of transcription, Shri Mahendra Kumar has had to devote several years to the task of editing the book, His has been a labour of love which deserves commendation, The Introduction which he has contributed gives a wealth of useful material which should provide a useful background to the study not only of this book but of Jain logic in general. Along with an English Introduction there is an equally valuable Prastavana in Hindi.
As I have indicated earlier, Nyaya philosophy is one of the directions in which Indian philosophical genius developed. It has a uniqueness all its own but gives evidence at every step of that fundamental fountain-head from which all Indian thinking has sprung. The free play and inter-play of mind upon mind has been a special feature of Indian culture and I am sure a study of this book will help the reader, even if he has previously studied Hindu philosophical literature, to obtain a better grasp of the subject.
Lucknow 19-12-58
Sampurnanand, (Chief Minister, Uttar Pradesh )