Abstract
In this chapter, it is intended to highlight the recent researches in the field of Vaiśeṣika philosophy – both textual and contextual. However, the main focus here will be on the later aspect (since the former has already been discussed in another chapter); but the same is also selective and not comprehensive. Accordingly the contribution of a few international scholars* to Vaiśeṣika school of Indian philosophy is being presented in this chapter.
*I am grateful to Prof. Masanobu Nozawa, Karin Preisendanz, Johannes Bronkhorst, Viktoria Lysenko, Harunaga Isaacson and Katsunori Hirano for their valuable inputs to update this chapter.
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Notes
- 1.
For details see (Kumar, ShashiPrabha 2017) Vaiśeṣika. In Oxford Bibliographies in Hinduism (Online).
- 2.
(Vidyabhushan, S.C. 1978) History of Indian Logic (Ancient, Medieval and Modern Schools), Introduction, pp. xiii–xv.
- 3.
(Kumar, ShashiPrabha 2013) Classical Vaiśeṣika in Indian Philosophy : On Knowing and What is to be Known.
- 4.
Potter, Karl H. (1977) Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies, Vol. I, pp. 677–688.
- 5.
Vacaspati Miśra, the renowned commentator for the source texts of various schools of Indian Philosophy, has totally ignored the Vaiśeṣika system and not written any commentary on it.
- 6.
Dharmaṁ vyākhyatukāmasya ṣaṭ padārthopavarṇanam.
Sāgaraṁ gantukāmasya himavadgamanopamam.
-Quoted by S. Sankaranarayanan (2003), Vaiśeṣika-Catuḥsūtrī, A Historical Perspective, p. 42, pp. 57–58.
- 7.
Vaiśeṣiko hi āstikānām adhamaḥ. -Brahmananda Saraswati in Nyāyaratnāvalī on Madhusudana Saraswati’s Siddhānatabindu, Quoted by S. Sankaranarayanan in his paper- Śaṅkara and the Vaiśeṣika-Naiyāyika Schools. In Perspectives of Śaṅkara, (Balasubramanian, R., and Bhattacharyya, Sibajiban (eds.) 1989), p. 150.
- 8.
Śāṅkarabhāṣya (on Brahmasūtra, 2.2.18), (Shatshastri, Swami Hanumandas (ed.) 1993).
- 9.
For details see chapter 13 of this volume titled “Recent Sanskrit Commentaries on Vaiśeṣikasūtras”.
- 10.
Gough, Archibald Edward (1873) (Eng. trans.), The Vaiśeṣika Aphorisms of Kaṇāda (with comments from the Upaskāra of Śaṅkara Miśra and the Vivritti of Jayanārāyāṇa Tarkapañchānana).
- 11.
However there were other foreign scholars like E. Roer who translated the Bhāṣāpariccheda of Viśvanatha in English which was published from Calcutta under Bibliotheca Indica series as early as in 1850.
- 12.
Although Hakuju Ui, the Japanese scholar, had translated Daśapadārtha-Śāstra of Maticandra, the Chinese text of Vaiśeṣika school, in English and it was published by Royal Asiatic Society, London, in 1917 after being edited by F.W. Thomas. But it did not make much impact on Vaiśeṣika studies since the text and its tradition were not very popular among later Indian Vaiśeṣika scholars.
- 13.
Faddegon, B. (1918) The Vaiçeṣika System, p. 12.
- 14.
Notably an Indian edition of the book being edited by the writer of these lines is under publication from D.K. Printworld, New Delhi.
- 15.
For details see A complete bibliography of his work complied by Eli Franco and Karin Preisendanz in Erich Frauwallner, Die Philosophie des Buddhismus. 5th edition. Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 2010, pp. xxxiv–xl.
- 16.
Frauwallner, Erich (1973) History of Indian Philosophy, Vol. II, New Delhi: Motilal Banarasidass. V. M. Bedekar, (Eng. trans. from original German) (Original German edition published in 1956 from Salzburg), Foreword, p. vii.
- 17.
Frauwallner, Erich (1994) The Original Beginning of the Vaiśeṣika Sūtras. In Erich Frauwallner’s Posthumous Essays (Translated from the German by Jayandra Soni), p. 37.
- 18.
Note: It is worth mentioning here that Debashis Ghosh was awarded M.Phil. degree for his dissertation titled Erich Frauwallner’s Contribution to Vaiśeṣika Studies which was completed under the supervision of Shashiprabha Kumar at Special Centre for Sanskrit Studies, JNU, New Delhi in 2009.
- 19.
Frauwallner, Erich (1973) History of Indian Philosophy, Vol. II, Foreword, p. vii.
- 20.
Vide: (Franco, Eli and Preisendanz, Karin [eds.] 1997) Beyond Orientalism, The Work of Wilhelm Halbfass and Its Impact on Indian and Cross-Cultural Studies, p. 1.
- 21.
Note: An M.Phil. research titled Wilhelm Halbfass’ Contribution to Indian Philosophy with Special Reference to Vaiśeṣika Philosophy was undertaken by a research scholar Ms. Vandana Upadhyaya under the supervision of Shashiprabha Kumar at Special Centre for Sanskrit Studies, JNU in 2014.
References
I. Texts in Sanskrit
Brahmasūtra Śāṅkarābhāṣyam of Śrī Śaṅkarācārya. Swami Hanumandas Shatshastri (Hindi commentary). 1993, Reprint. Varanasi: Chaukhambha Vidyabhawan.
II. Sources in English
Balasubramanian, R., and Bhattacharyya, Sibajiban (eds.) 1989. Perspectives of Śaṅkara, Madras: Department of Culture, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India.
Faddegon, B. 1918. The Vaiçeṣika System, Amsterdam: Johannes Muller.
Frauwallner, Erich, 1973. History of Indian Philosophy, Vol. II, English Translation by V. M. Bedekar, Delhi: Motilal Banarasidass.
Gough, Archibald Edward 1975 2nd edition. (Eng. trans.), The Vaiśeṣika Aphorisms of Kaṇāda (with comments from the Upaskāra of Śaṅkara Miśra and the Vivritti of Jayanārāyāṇa Tarkapañchānana), New Delhi: Oriental Books Reprint Corporation.
Kumar, ShashiPrabha 2013. Classical Vaiśeṣika in Indian Philosophy : On Knowing and What is to be Known, Oxford, U.K.: Taylor & Francis Group, Routledge Publishers.
Kumar, ShashiPrabha. 2017. Vaiśeṣika. In Oxford Bibliographies in Hinduism, (ed.) Tracy Coleman, Oxford University Press, New York.
Potter, Karl H.1977. Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies. Vol. II., Delhi: Motilal Banarasidass.
S. Sankaranarayanan, 2003. Vaiśeṣika-Catuḥsūtrī, A Historical Perspective, Adyar, Chennai: The Adyar Library and Research Centre.
Soni, Jayandra. Erich Frauwallner’s Posthumous Essays, (Translated from the German) 1994. New Delhi: Aditya Prakashan.
Thakur, Anantalal. 2003. Origin and Development of Vaiśeṣika System, New Delhi: Centre for Studies in Civilization
Vidyabhushan, S.C. 1978, Reprint. History of Indian Logic (Ancient, Medieval and Modern Schools), Delhi: Motilal Banarasidass
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Kumar, S. (2019). Vaiśeṣika Studies Across the World. In: Categories, Creation and Cognition in Vaiśeṣika Philosophy. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2965-4_14
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