Sabdabodhamimamsa: An Inquiry into Indian Theories of Verbal Cognition, part IV--Roots and Verb Desinences: Their Significance.

• Author: Cardona, George
• Position: Book review

Sabdabodhamimamsa: An Inquiry into Indian Theories of Verbal Cognition, part IV--Roots and Verb Desinences: Their Significance. By N. S. RAMANUJA TATACHARYA. Collection Indologie, vol. 100.4. Pondichery/New Delhi: INSTITUT FRANCAIS DE PONDICHERY/RASHTRIYA SANSKRIT SANSTHAN, 2008. Pp. 46, 433. Rs. 250.

This is the fourth and final volume of Sabdabodhamimamsa, the second and third parts of which I reviewed earlier in this journal; see JAOS 128 (2008): 105-11, 129 (2009): 123-28. The central part of the present volume (pp. 1-206), labeled "Text of Sabdabodhamimamsa" in the English table of contents, is divided into two sections, dealing with the meaning(s) of a verbal base or root (dhatvarthavicarah, pp. 1-55) and of verb endings (akhyatartkavicarah, 57-206). There follow seven appendixes (anubandhah, 207-433): bibliography of works cited (udahrtagranthanam suci, 209-21), discussions of the relations between particular terms and meanings attributed to them, around which disputes arose in various schools of thought (katipayapadanam saktivicarah, 223-36); descriptions of explanatory principles, with examples (vyutpattinam sodaharanam vivaranam, 237-313); the text of Annambhatta's Tarkasangraha with a tika by Ramanuja Tatacharya (tarkasamgrahasabdabodhah, 315-422); index of cited verses (udahrtanam slokanam suci, 423-25); index of words explained (vivrtanam pudanam suci, 427-28); and index of words and sentences cited in order to explain verbal cognitions (sabdabodhartham udahrtanam padanam vakyanam ca suci, 429-33). In addition, there is a fairly extensive introduction (upodghatah), separately paginated (7-30), in which N. S. Ramanuja Tatacharya lucidly summarizes the main issues taken up in works with which he deals in this volume, concerning different views on the meaning or meanings one should attribute to verbal bases and affixes which occur with these. Also separately paginated are a list of abbreviations (samketaksarasuci, 1-5) and a detailed table of contents in Sanskrit, including the topics covers (visayasuci, 31-36) and the appendixes (anubandhah, 37-46). All this is preceded, on single unnumbered pages, by a summary table of contents in English, a brief description acquainting the reader with the general work (sabdabodhamimamsagranthasya samksiptaparicayah) repeated from earlier volumes, a brief description of the fourth volume (dhatvakhyatarthavicaratmakasya caturthabhagasya samksiptaparicayah), and acknowledgments. Although a table...