Bhdttatantrarahasyam: The Bhattatantrarahasya of Khandadeva with the Sdraprakasika Commentary by N. S. Ramanuja Tatacharya.

• Author: Cardona, George
• Position: Book review

Bhdttatantrarahasyam: The Bhattatantrarahasya of Khandadeva with the Sdraprakasika Commentary by N. S. Ramanuja Tatacharya. By N. S. RAMANUJA TATACHARYA. Regards sur l'Asie du Sud/South Asian Perspective, no. 4. Pondichery: INSTITUT FRANCAIS DE PONDICHERY, 2015. Pp. xxi + 664. Rs. 1200, [euro]52.

The eminent polymath N. S. Ramanuja Tatacharya has made many contributions to scholarship on Sanskrit writings in several areas of learning, particularly Nyaya, Mimamsa, and Vyakarana. Among his recent contributions are a four-volume compilation (Sabdabodhamimamsa: An Inquiry into Indian Theories of Verbal Cognition) published by the Institut Francais de Pondichery between 2005 and 2008, in which are collected major selections of works dealing with aspects of verbal cognition; a commentary (Bdlapriya) on Nilakantha's Prakdsika to Annambhatta's Tarkasangrahadipikd (The Tarka-sahgraha-Dipikd-Prakdsika with the Commentaries Bdlapriya and Prasarana, 2nd ed., edited by N. Veezhinathan, [Chennai Mahalakshmi-Mathrubhuteswar Trust, 2008]); and an edition of Gadadharabhatta's Vyutpattivada with his commentary Vidvanmanorama (Tdrkikacakravarti Gadadharabhattacaryaviracitah Vyutpattivadah N. S. Ramanujacaryakrtaya Vidvanmanoramdkhyaya vyakhyaya sahitah, 2 vol. [Pondichery: Institut Francais de Pondichery/Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidya-peetha, 2011, 2012]).

Ramanuja Tatacharya has now contributed an edition of the Bhattatantrarahasya of the Mimarhsaka Khandadeva, with his commentary, Sdraprakasika. The text and commentary (pp. 1-640) are preceded by a short introduction (prastavana, i-v) as well as a detailed table of contents (vii-xxi, where the order of the first two indexes is reversed), and followed by four appendixes: index of Paninian surras (paninisutrasucl, 643-52) and varttikas of Katyayana (vartikani, 652-53) quoted both in the main text and in the commentary, index of karikas cited in the main text and commentary (kdrikdsuci, 655-57), and a catalog of works cited (uddhrtagranthdnam suci, 659-64).

Khandadeva, who received the name Sridharendra when he took sannyasa, flourished in Kasi in the early to mid seventeenth century and died in 1666 (sarhvat 1722), as is made known by his disciple Sambhubhatta in the seventh and ninth verses at the end of his Prabhavali on the Bhdttadipikd (yah khandadevanama san sridharendrabhidham gatah I sa gurur me vijanatu tikakrtiparisramam II varse netradvisaptadvijapatiganite mdsi jyesthe kararkse... kdsyam srlbrahmanale nirupamacaritah khandadevabhidhanah I praptah sribrahmabhavam nibudhavaraguruh sridharendro yatindrah II).

Khandadeva is known to have composed three works on Mimamsa: Mimdmsakaustubha, Bhdttadipikd, Bhattatantrarahasya. The first is a commentary extending from the second pada of the first adhyaya through the third pada of the third adhyaya of Jaimini's Mimamsasutra. The Bhdttadipikd covers from the second pada of the first adhyaya through the twelfth adhyaya. There are earlier editions of the Bhattatantrarahasya. A. Subrahmanya Sastri's edition (3rd ed. [as mentioned on p. 74 of the Sanskrit introduction], Varanasi: Banaras Hindu University, 1970) includes an extensive Sanskrit introduction of seventy-five pages, a shorter English introduction of ten pages, comments on some passages, and an index of cited passages. Suryanarayana Sastri later composed a commentary, entitled Khandadevabhdvaprakasa, on the entire text, published in 1985: Khanda Deva Bhava Prakasa, a Commentary on Mahamhopadhyaya Khandadeva's Bhattarahasya (as given on the Roman title page), Rajahmundry (no publisher specified). This edition does not have any indexes but does include a short introduction in English (pp. x-xxi) by K. T. Pandurangi and an extensive Sanskrit introduction (xxvi-lx, followed by an unpaginated three-page chart giving the positions of grammarians, Naiyayikas, and Mimarhsakas on major topics), in which Suryanarayana Sastri not only refers to and critiques A. Subrahmanya Sastri's edition but also mentions (lviii) an...