Abstract:

The Mādhva school of Vedānta, more widely known as ‘Dvaita Vedānta’, was founded by the great philosopher and religious leader Madhvācārya who lived in modern-day Karṇāṭaka from the thirteenth to the fourteenth centuries. In 2008, I had the benefit of receiving instruction from a modern Ācārya of the tradition, Prof. Prahladachar of the Pūrṇaprajña Saṃśodhana Mandiram, Bangalore. I worked with him for around one and a half months, during which time Professor Prahladachar taught me, in a mixture of English and Sanskrit, portions of the Nyāyāmṛta of Vyāsatīrtha and its commentaries, the Advaita Siddhi of Madhusūdana Sarasvatī and the Nyāyāmṛtaraṅginī of Vyāsarāmācārya. This prompted reflection on my part on what it is to be an interpreter of Sanskrit philosophical texts in modern times. My main contention here is that, while modern philological methods represent an extremely promising approach to the classic texts of the Mādhva tradition, contact with scholars trained within the tradition should be a central component of any serious research project into texts such as the Nyāyāmṛta. I have appended a brief extract from the Nyāyāmṛta along with its commentaries based on my work in Bangalore.

Author: Michael Williams