Some Observations On Manuscript Transmission Of Nyayabhasya

Author(s): Yasutaka Muroya
Publisher: Yasutaka Muroya

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Some Observations on the Manuscript Transmission of the NBh (Y. Muroya) 25
reconstructing the historical development of the transmission of the NS in a more concrete way than ever, and of discovering fragments of lost Nyaya works. At the same time, from the text-critical viewpoint, the frequent mention of pratika-s extracted from those commentaries relating to the NS, or the innumerable direct and indirect references to earlier works are of great importance for the reconstruction of the original reading of the concerned text. They allow us to compare the printed texts or available transmitted manuscripts with the text upon which the commentators relied. By way of the above-mentioned series of publications by Thakur and Jha we have therefore come to be faced with the crucial issue of the history of the textual transmission of the classical commentaries on the NS and also with the task of reconstructing the original text of these commentaries. In particular with regard to the NBh, this task will surely require much time and the careful study of the available texts on the basis of manuscript material. A first step towards such a reconstruction is the philological analysis of primary and secondary testimonies as well as of the variants recorded in the printed editions, especially the variants given in Thakur's two editions, because of their diversity and distinction in quality and quantity.
Together with Sung Yong Kang, the present author is currently engaged in a project on the NBh organized by Karin Preisendanz at the University of Vienna, Austria, which aims at preparing a critical edition of the work on a broad material basis. In the following examination, a preliminary attempt will be made to introduce the Trivandrum manuscript of the NBh, which appears not to have been utilized for any editions known to me, and to consider the value of this manuscript as a primary witness. This contribution focuses on clarifying the history of the transmission of the NBh by means of the comparison of the variant readings of the Trivandrum manuscript with readings in other sources such as the manuscripts of the NBh available to the project, printed editions of the NBh, and secondary or independent testimonies; it does not represent an exhaustive examination of the individual variant readings, simply because the collation of the approximately fortyfive manuscripts is still in progress. Thus only a few aspects relevant to the mentioned purpose and demonstrated by the Trivandrum manuscript are being introduced. For practical reasons, the evidence of the trisütribhasya, i.e., the commentary on the first three sūtra-s of the NS, will be the primary
Visvarūpa, Trilocana and Vācaspati, cf. Thakur's Preface to the NVP: v-vii.
For a recent example of the practice of this renewed methodology in studying the Nyāya commentarial works, especially concerning the critical consideration of the readings of the NBh as recorded in the printed editions, cf. Preisendanz 2000, which collates at least six printed editions. For other examples of a critical approach to the text of the NBh, cf., e.g., Ganganatha Jha's two editions of the NBh and the footnotes to his translation, Sudarsanācārya's Prasannapadā, Preisendanz 1994 (e.g., pp. 701-702) and Okazaki 2005. Nagasaki (1968) examines the textual transmission of the NBh that is reflected in Hemacandra's Pramanamimamsă and points out its difference from that of a printed edition of the NBh.