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3. A CRITICAL STUDY OF SV, SVV AND SVT
(a) The author of SV and SVV: Akalanka:
Anantavirya, the commentator of SV eulogises Akalanka with the adjective 'Jinendra' in the opening verses of the present work SVT, and pledges to comment on SV; besides, the following verses of SVT bespeak of Akalankas' praise in glowing terms. Vidyananda quotes SV (IX. 2): sabdah pudgalaparyayaḥ attributing it to Akalanka, in TSLV (p. 424) Vādirāja in his NVV mentioned SV as the work of Deva, i.e. Akalanka: etadeva svayam devairuktam siddhiviniścaye, pratyasattyayayaikyam syat1'
Vādirājasūri, the author of Syādvādaratnākara (p. 641), explicitly refers to Akalanka as the author of SV: yadah Akalankaḥ Siddhiviniścaye-varnasamudyah padamiti'.
Evidently, Akalanka is the author of SV and SVV, since the references are self-expressive of the existence of SV and SVV of Akalanka.
(b) Historical background of the title of the work:
It is a tradition of long standing to have the titles of the works ending with 'viniścaya'; e.g. Tiloyapanṇatti (TP) (5th c. A.D.) frequently refers to a work 'Lokaviniscaya?2. May be3, Akalanka, following this practice, named his works on Nyaya as Nyāyaviniscaya and Siddhiviniscaya; it has been already referred to the fact that there was a work named Siddhiviniscaya by Arya Sivasvami of Yapaniyasamgha, who flourished before Akalanka. But the chief source of inspiration for entitling his work with the suffix 'viniscaya' is Pramanaviniscaya of Dharmakirti, in spite of Akalanka's different tradition from Buddhists. The works of the epoch-making philosopher, Dharmakirti and his disciples and followers, have directly or indirectly provoked Akalanka to build his own system of logic, known as Akalankanyaya, against the severe attacks of Buddhists.
(c) General outlines of the SV and SVV:
The SV contains twelve chapters, mostly dealing with epistemological concepts such as-Pramana, Naya and Nikşepa etc., the gist of which are given in the following pages.
1 NVV. Vol. I p. 168.
2 TP, IV, 1866, 1975, 1982, 2028; V. 68, 129, 167; VII. 203; VIII. 270, 386; IX.
9 etc.
TP, vol. II, Intro. p. 12. Infra p. 59.
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