Vācaspati Miśra

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Vācaspati Miśra
Personal
Born9th/10th century CE [1] [2] [3]
Mithila (modern-day Bihar, India)
Diedunknown, 9th/10th century CE [1]
Religion Hinduism
SpouseBhamati
Philosophy Advaita Vedanta, Hinduism

Vachaspati Mishra was a ninth or tenth century [1] [2] [3] Indian Hindu philosopher of the Advaita Vedanta tradition, who wrote bhasya (commentaries) on key texts of almost every 9th-century school of Hindu philosophy. [4] [3] He also wrote one non-commentary, Tattvabindu, or Drop of Truth, which focuses on Mīmāṃsā theories of sentence meaning.

Contents

Biography

Little is known about Vācaspati Miśra's life, and the earliest text that has been dated with certainty is from 840 CE, and he was at least one generation younger than Adi Śaṅkara. [2] However, an alternate date for the same text may be 976 CE, according to some scholars, a confusion that is based on whether Hindu Śaka or Vikrama era calendar is used for the dating purposes. [3] Historical scholarship locates him as a Maithil Brahmin from Andhra Tharhi Bihar. [3]

He was a student of Maṇḍana Miśra, who was his main inspirator, and harmonises Shankara's thought with that of Mandana Miśra. [5] [web 1] According to Advaita tradition, Shankara reincarnated as Vachaspati Miśra "to popularise the Advaita System through his Bhamati." [6]

He wrote so broadly on various branches of Indian philosophy that later Indian scholars called him "one for whom all systems are his own", or in Sanskrit, a sarva-tantra-sva-tantra. [7]

Bhamati school

The Bhamati school, named after Vācaspati Miśra's commentary on Shankara's Brahma Sutra Bhashya, [web 1] [web 2] takes an ontological approach. It sees the Jiva as the source of avidya. [web 1] It sees meditation as the main factor in the acquirement of liberation, while the study of the Vedas and reflection are additional factors. [8]

Works

Bhāṣya

Vācaspati Miśra was a prolific scholar and his writings are extensive, including bhasya (commentaries) on key texts of almost every 9th-century school of Hindu philosophy, with notes on non-Hindu or nāstika traditions such as Buddhism and Carvaka. [4] [3]

Vācaspati Miśra wrote the Bhamati , a commentary on Shankara's Brahma Sutra Bhashya, and the Brahmatattva-samiksa, a commentary on Mandana Mishra's Brahma-siddhi. It is believed that the name of his most famous work "Bhāmatī" was inspired by his devout wife.[ citation needed ]

Other influential commentaries are as Tattvakaumudi on Sāṃkhyakārika; [9] Nyāyasucinibandha on Nyāya-sūtras; [1] Nyāyakānika (an Advaita work on science of reason), Tattvasamikṣa (lost work), Nyāya-vārttika-tātparyaṭīkā (a subcommentary on the Nyāya-sūtras), Tattva-vaiśāradī on Yogasūtra, and others. [3]

While some known works of Vācaspati Miśra are now lost, others exist in numerous numbers. Over ninety medieval era manuscripts, for example, in different parts of India have been found of his Tattvakaumudi, which literally means "Moonlight on the Truth". [3] This suggests that his work was sought and influential. A critical edition of Tattvakaumudi was published by Srinivasan in 1967. [3]

Tattvabindu - theory of meaning

In Tattvabindu Vachaspati Mishra develops principles of hermeneutics, and discusses the "Theory of Meaning" for the Mīmāṃsā school of Hindu philosophy. [3] This is an influential work, and attempted to resolve some of the interpretation disputes on classical Sanskrit texts. Vācaspati examines five competing theories of linguistic meaning: [7] [10]

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History of Advaita Vedanta

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Fowler 2002, p. 129.
  2. 1 2 3 Isaeva 1993, p. 85-86.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Larson & Bhattacharya 1987, p. 301-312.
  4. 1 2 Chatterji 1912, p. vi.
  5. Roodurmun 2002, p. 35.
  6. Roodurmun 2002, p. 34.
  7. 1 2 3 Phillips 2015.
  8. Roodurmum 2002, p. 37.
  9. Isaeva 1993, p. 124].
  10. Ranganath 1999.

Sources

Web-sources

Further reading