.

'

'(,

"

,~

"
Jo.
PHILOSO~ OF GOlf' IN KASHMiR "SA'TV'1t'" DUALISM I
SADYOJYO-TI. AND HIS'COMt1ENTATORS

Ey

@.

LEON E,. HANNOTTE

')

A The~'is

,
"

Submitted to the School of Graduate

S~udies

in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements

for the Degree
Doctor of Philosophy
'McMaster University
Apr il,' 1987

1,

1 ,

'J

"

---.--- ...

~"-,

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\
~

'.

..~

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..

- ..,.

PHILOSOPHY OF GOD IN KASHMIR .SAlVA DUALISM

.- .

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.~

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
(Religious Studie~s}
TITLE:

."

AUTHOR:

(19K7)

McW\S'llER UN I VERS I "Y

Har.lilton,OntiHio

Philosophy of God in Kashmir ~aiva Dualism:

Sadyojyoti a~d His Commentators
Leon E. Hannotte

-."".

t t a ~a )

B A.

(0

~1.A.

(Man i toba)

~~)

'.-

SUPERVISOR:' prof~ssOr\K. Siva"raman

. "I

NUMBER OF 'PAGES:

vi

i0 .' Jfh1.

\.

.. ':'

\.

i i

"

fl.DS'rRI\CT

Scholars know a good deal about Kashmir Saivis~.

neginning

in

the

Abhinavagupta
'- ,.

studied

both

',rlilosoplly

teens of

and
by

of

our

century

oth,;?rs to/ere edi ted,

Indian

and

non-dualism

works

"

of

translated ane
studE.'nts~

Western
or

the

ab,solute monism

The
that

cha racted,zed the thought of Abh i navagupta and "the Tr i ka

or ~r~tyahhij~ischool o~ which he was a representative
/

"

has come tc be identified with the name Kashmir Saivism.

a' Salva
dualisl':l existed

school

"

te~ching

Philosop~ical
~ame

in Kashr.air .curing the the

p$:riod.,

The only early wii~er of this school whose writings have

survived

is Sadyojyoti

(9th.C).

It

isl the writings of

this author, along \lith their cornr.1entaries by' Ramakal)~ha

Cl2th.C)

and' Aghora-siva

(l2th.C)

textual basis for this stUdy.

study

;rr-"'-

of

'

Aghora~siva's

v/hich forf:\ the .main

The essay also inc1~des

cornmenta'ry

on

K,ing

(llth.C) Tattvapraka~ika.
The

first

exposition Qf'the

two

phiio:sophy of

God

in
.

Tattvatrayanirnaya

Tat tvasa-Y}graha
fir s t

c hap t e'r,

Bhoja's
,

chapter::~ .give

a' de.tailed
Sa;<='lyqjyoti's
.'

.~.:~

(with'~~hora~iva's cbrnmentary)' an~

(with

A9hora~iva"s corernentary). ~he

nth e

Tat t vat ray ani rna y a ,

conplcte translation of

this
iii

\-lark

and

its

i n-c 1 Udes a
cor.~menta~y

,'.

'.

int'o En'gUsh
study on

(,-or

thE'

first

the same-theme

in

A<Jhor;asiva's 'commentary
are follO\o/ed by a.

chapter

of

the

followc.'.d 'by

IS

(l

Dhoja's TattvaprakilsiJrfi and

summ~ry'of

is a

This

thereon.

po s ~" t i v e -t ~ a chi n 9 son

Chapter four

time.

These

three

the fin(lings
for th

GO?" put

study of

thE.'

,concern~ng
,

polemics

Naresv.-araparTksa of

c\)nplcr's

the~e

in

the

,t ext s .

the

second

Sadyojyoti

with a

Icom~entary by Rarnakary~ha. It

,the phiIqsophy. of God

of

is effected against other schools

1- 1
p.r;.osophy.

Indian

A b h ina v a 9 u pta

Sadyojyoti's

is " here that the defence of

.
Chapter

pol em i c

~.

five, is

Tan t [ a,I a k a

the

dualism 'and 'conception

,.
of

study
a9a i n

J\

'I'his

IS

of God.

"

fOl'lowed by a sU,mmary and conclusion.

. I n

b r i e f,

the

~hought

system of

theisti.c Samkhya:

f i' n d i ri g s

resembles what

t hat, Sad yo j yo t i s

one mi gh t t h ink' of as

The metaphysics

is

s~milar with
,

the

'

Qnly sign5fican~ difference being that ~adyojyoti ~inds

a place for God

Civa)

so 'the thesis.argues, d~e

largly,

to the presence of mala

in ~aivis~, which

Samkl?,ya.

for

The

argument

Jhe

similar to the Nyaya syllogism

the

cosmological

and

ex istence

'(ie~,

design

the

of

BUddhoist, -Oharmakirti,

,-

of

God

is

is a combination of

arguments).

opponents to this attempted proof

God are

i~ absent ,in

The

main

the exisfence of
and the

Mim~nisaka, ~

Kuma r i l.a .'

7
/
iv

In' gC'ncra],

his doctrine of

Sa.dyojyotis phl1o~ophy, of

philosophical

dualism

are

as

God

anc

successful

as any thought sy~tcm in',t'erms of power of,expli'cabi~ity

inlernal'cohe~ence.

and

The final
type

~ar~

of ,Philosophy

of

t~e

espows~d

Fommentator~ canno-f- really

world since

..

the.p~em~ses

by

speak

of

the~

conclusion argues that

the

Sadyojyot.i

and

hi.,s

to the modern western

former

are

those
.

which

'

~he:

latter sees itself as having outgrown.

-.,
J

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,.,

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o

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ACKNO\JL E!?GEtIENTS
\.

w ish

t o t han k.

In

'prof .K.'Sivaraman,. for having

myself

Indian philosophy.

k tor vat e r

''(j 0

Also

figured

want

invalu~ble

(for me)
I

~o

tharrk 'the

prominently

Religio~s

in

my

especia,lly Prof.I.G.\'leeks, wi~h' whom I

.. .

stcr ,

severil other members of the Dept. of

have

to. f1 c ~1 Cl

invited me her'e to teach

..

who

Cl

Studies

years

here,

had innumerable'

debates. which mostly remained civil.

want to thank the secretaries

Gordon for lendjng me

in

the Dep't.:

pasS key,

the

Grace
\

Grace Wang and.

Jeanne Salamy for their helpfulnesg~ They all do a hard"

job well. We are, no doubt,
b~easy
~~ints.

to lose

of

patience since we are all

such

. '

Sanskrit,
..

one~s

a group with whom it. would

thank Prof.N.Veezinathan; head of the Dept. of

..

Univers~ty

the Kuppu'swam"i.,

of

M~dras,

Re~earCh

..

Prof.S.~anaki,

Cen ter, Mac;1 r,as,

"'saiva philcsophy \olit~ me' for

re9ister my ~ppreciation

aDd

for

year...,...I

the money I

Head

for" readi ng

a,lso waJ1t

to

got fro~ the

Shastri

Institute while in India and from the Canadian

I '~
tax-payers while here at McMaster. F~nally I.wish to

thank my ~lif e, Carol,

for maintaining their

, 0,

and"" my k i ds~ Je.nni fer ,a nd J,i 11,

se~ses

vi

of humour and adventure.

..

).

....

T~ELE.

OF CONTENTS

-'

INTRODUCTION' . , . . . . . . . . . . _ .. ,.....~ 1-13.

"

CII~PTER

.
1: TilE PII ILOSOPHY OF GOD I N THE
TATTVATR~YANIRNAYA .......... 14-54~
,
J

-,

TRANSLATION OF THE TATTVATRAYANIHNAYA .. 55~86.

... -

.~_.

~.

Sanskrit Text of the Tattvatraynirnaya

(eanskri t ' Pagi na tt on) ............ : . "

'
.: .1-22 ..

CHAPTER 2: THE PH I LOSOPHY OF GOD IN. THE .

,
~,
TATTVASAl?\GRAHA
. . . . . 87,--153'
'"

.
CHAP-TER 3: THE PH IL'OSOPHY OF GOD I N THE
, -" .
15'3-231.
TATTVAPRAKASIKA......................
'
SUM11ARY AND C;ONCLUSION TO THE FIRST' THREE
2Jf.-:237
. CHAPTERS

CHAPTER 4: SADYOJYOTI'S DEFENC~ d~ HIS PHILOSOPHY,g: GgD

~N THE NARE~VARAPARIKSA.~ : 2?33
i.

CHAPTER 5:

ABHINAVA'S CRITICISM OF SADYOJY,OTI IN THE

TANTRALOKA ~ . '.' ~ ' ~ . JJ9':-377.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION ... 378-385.

BIBLIOGRAPHY :.: ~ 386- 391.

,'.

V'j

\. r---.

-.,!.

~_

u_

INTRODUCTIO~

\
Isdifficult

It

..

if

not

impossible

to

I:lake

foolproof genetalization about Hin<Nism.

In fact

bee n s aid

r e c e n t 1y

co~parSl-tive religion

Hi n d u i

Sin

is

the heading
~

'Hinduism'

..

it has

I n d i a what

Th'~s

is to the re-st of the world. l

means that under

t hat

onecan expect

. j

to
contradictory
, fin6 the most varied and oft~n ~utually
.
.
p~ i

1050 phi cal

. ide a s

expected since

the

Persian (Iranian>

i mag ina b 1 e.
word

t his

But

is

. .
l~l y
orlg1na

, H i ndu

pronunciation for the name .ot

iI

be

the

river

in present'day Pakistan" That same river,. tne Incus',

also the

. source of the Engli.~h 'word'" India'.

wa~,

word 'Hindu'
":\.

the

word

d~iignation.2 I,t,

geographical

I'

like

":

r~li9ion nor

it~stand

did

'India.'
,

w~s

for

not

Thus

is
the

still. is,

the

certain

name of a
~ind

of

philosophical view ~t t~e worJd. So it is understandable

~

that 'Hinduism' containec in . , the past,

as

it continues

to do in the present, some sc~ols that are rnon~stic and

others that 'are du~list.ic, some that are mate.rialist ic
and others that afe
that~qre

and others

mix~everal

of

~dealist~c,

some that .are theistic

atheistic, etc. Some schools seem to

these elements

together

ane.thus pake

This idea is Prof. Sivaraman's.

Cf. Hinduism, Troy Organ, pp-l,2

..

"
2

c-lilssificiltton more dif'ficult..Certainly,

too anomalous ~anc nultifacet(?d

for ,there, ever

of

thil)gs being able

thlC' essence or crown of

spite of

...

the 'fact

to

misconception

to clo3'im

'Hinduism'.

that

there

is

represents

this

is .so

in

the contrary.

essay may be, depending on the

or

And

of one,
l

an extensive popul'a.r

The philosophy of God which

stran2fE!

that it

-is

to ha".:-

thelPossibilH~

)'een in the .past or the present,

vic\ol

'l!induisr.1'

quite

familiar.

is the topic of

v--:

this

",

individual, either quite

It

may' Be vquite. strange.

<l

because

it

is part. of a 'system which,

\

mortotheistic

but

n'ot

bhakti'ci

which
I;

released soul becomes the Absolute but

of

........

advaita;

example, 'is ~.

posits

n~t

that

in the sense

and whIch posits a caring and compassionate

God who helps

thesys.tem:

for

the souls realize

the

attqinment

of

the
the

power of independence (svatantryam)

ultimat~

s~

of

value

of

abso.l1Jt.e

the essence of which'

. is that one will not need to be caring or compassionate

since
a gao in.

no-thing and no being will

It

may

philosophical

seem

familiar

issues

involved

ever boss one around

in

that

the
r.

many. of

inJudeo-~hristian

Islamic theological specul,ation and debate

r~cur

in

'Hincu ' phil~sophy of God

...

"

.
.
~I

.~
'

...' ....
,

\l

.' 'v.

or

~DUALISTrC KASHMIR ~AIVISM

.--..'

In the

two'hun~rpd

years that

In~i~

has been lh0

0(

I.

object of study of modern scholarshir it

is only

early decades of

find. sust<.incd

our

century. that

attention being g'iven t,o'Saiva

n~s 0;

we

3 tlost
thought.
tJ

in ttlC"

of this

~e:s.~

3 J,e s te t" awa te

s
Inc i a .'")Olte ncs
to the time 'of Megasthenes, the ambassador' of Seleukas
Nikator to the court o/f the Chandraguptas (circa
300B.C.E.). Clement of 'Alexandria knew of the Buddha and
the expedi-tion of tlie. Portuguese Vasco de Gama, six
years after Columqus rediscovered America, began! the
modern period of contact bet,ween the two cultures. But
Europe~n intellectual interest was only awakenea in the
latter part of tpe ~ighteenth century. Last' year (1986)
marr-ed the bi-centenary of the first t,ranslat ion of an
Indian'work directly from Sanskrit into a Europe~n
language (Charles ~'lilkin's translation of the BhagavadGita into F<.nglish. In. 1801-180,2 A.nquetil' Duperron
translated certain Upanishads from Persian into Latin
and by 1824 H.T.Colebrooke' gave the first: d~ription of
Indian philoso~hy to the West in his Essays on the
PhilosoPhy of the Hindus. (Cf. Die Philosophie der
-lnder, H.von Glasenapp,pp'.-1-6 . See also Les Relations
'" han g :a s d.e l I I n de e t de
Ext e r i e u red e 1 r I n de: L e sEe
l"Empire Romain AUK Premier,s Siecles del'Ere.
Chrihie:g,ne, i1nd La Doctrine Brahm,anigue a' Rome aUIIr~me
Sieele, ~ean. Fil1iozat).
' .
Ev~n a' br iet survey of
th~ litera ture wi 11
reveal
' . the growth of interest in 'Saivi,sm beginn'ing in our
century. Early philosophical interest in the West was
eenti:.ered on the Upanisads, the six orthodox systems".
Buddhism and Jainism. The thouaht of Saivism finds no
place .inl:!the A.i-leber'.s Indische Lit:eraturg~schichte
( Be r 1'1 n ~ 1 8 S 2), nor 1 n A. A Mac do.nne 1 s H 1 S tor y "f
Sanskrit Literature (London, published in 18~9, the year
before Ma~ Mueller's death), nor inA.B.Keithrs History
of..- Sanskrit Literature (Oxford,1928). In all of these
w0 r k s s p ace i s 9 i ve n t o t h e des c ~ i p t ion 0 f '~\t h e six
orthodox and t.wo heterodoxsystems., M.Winternitz's
History of Indian Literature CCalcutta,1927) discusses
the ~ai~a Agamas bri~flY (Vol.l,p-SS8) in the section on
'Ti:tntrism. ,Monographs en s~ctarian thought and on Saivism
in particular had appeared in quick succession beginning
in 191~. In that year L.D;Earnett published a
t ran,slation a,nd commentary on the parmarth"asara. of

.'

.,'
\

altenll,ln hilS

t.een concerned

"lith

tl-IO

r.ain

schools

of

'Saivi5m: r.i't~hmir Saiva 110nis':l4 ane: Saiva-Siddhanta. 5 The.. . .

AbhiocJvagupta (JRAS,l9l0). Then appeared Der 'Saiva

Siddhanta, Eine ~ystik Indians (Leipzig,19l2) by
H S c h 0 .r.e r us, ~. G Bhan dar k a r 's Va i na vis r:l , Sa i ~ s m -a n <.'l
Mi nor ReI i 9 i 0 u s Systems' (S t r ass' bur 9 , 1 9 1 3 ) and
J.C.Chatterjee's Kashmir ~aivism (Srinagar,19l4).
:'Ifter this time we begin to see interest in ~aiva\
thou~Dt accelerate. J.N.Farquh~r's An Outline of the
Reliqious Literature of Incia (Oxford,192e) contains an ~
extensive exposition of 'S'~iva ideas. 'Saiva philosophy
finds a place in the histories of philosophy of
S. Ra d h a k r ish nan ( New Y0 r k ., 1 9 2 7) a n c
S N Cas 9 u pta
tCambridge,1957). H.von Glasenapp's Die Reliqionen
Indiens (Stuttgart,1943) anc Die Philosophie der Incer;
(1958) both contain valuable s'~ctions on <sectarian'
thou~ht. The year 1956 st~a'n'ds out. I~rnarks the
beginnings of~\oJO publications. One was by. the Centre
Nationale de la l)echerche. Scientific at Par' , the other
byL'Institut Francais D'Indolosy at Pondicherry . The
first 'series cal'led Publications de LtInstitu~ de
Cjvilisation Indienne contains anurnber of studies and
translations of texts that, had been edited in. the
Kashr.'lir Series ot: Texts anct:~i~udies, which series had
itself begun in the early par'~~6f our century (1911) and
which remains the main source' of edited Sanskrit texts
on Kashmir Saivism. Th~--Pondicherry series of studies
and translations, especial~y froI:1 the_early 196"'s has
concentrated on the southern "Saiva Agamas anc is at
pre sen t t u.r n i n 9 its at t e. n't ion t o t h e t1 0 r e p u rei y
philosophical literature also.
The growth of interest in .Saivisrn hegin'ning in our
century can .beseen in' the periodical literature also, ..
concerning which the reacer is refe-trec to the
;~. ibliography of othis work. It is noteworthy that of thd
. .4 major periodicals searched a ~rge nunber of art'icles
deal with the aesth~tics of Ab.h~upta or with the
philoso~hy of the pratyabhijna school of Kashmir 'SaivisI:1,
and a coupl, of articles copprise surnmari'es~of the
contQnts of Agamas (by Helene Drunner-Lachaux) put only
onQ .article dealt with the' lite.raturewith which this
ess~y is chiefly concQrned (Pierre Filliozat's study and
translation of Bhoja's T~ttvaprakasika).

.-

.:>
-1
-F lo..r ish e d fro m the 9 t h - 1 t, I h e . I:' _ a n (l t <l U <J h l
ab'hedav'iic'Ja (monism). It is also called the' Trika or
pratyabhijna school.

l
\

S The terms 'aiva' anc 'Si~~h~nta' arc the terms

wit h ~J h i c h the aut h 0 r S 0 f Kit S h mirS a i v a d u ali s m ref c r
to their doctrine (cf. TP,p-35,PtINK,P-~2,NIP,pp
l68,203,222,etc.). 'Saiva Darsana' is the n~ne by which
Sayana-Mad~va refers
to the school
in ~is
Sarvadar'Sanasanqraha.
Yet
in
our
time
the
term
'/Saiva
sid d han t a' . has c 0 ~e tom e a n sou the r n Ta rod 1 's a i vis m:
I~aiva Siddhanta is the name by which Tamil Saivism is
known." (Cf. the article on Saiva ,Siddhanta -b-y
T.t1.P.Mahadevan in HiS1:ory of Philosophy Bilstern ane
vlestern, ed., S.Rad,bakrishnan,p-369). Je~n FifUozat
understancs the tern in this way in Les Philosoph~ de
l'Ince (p-107ff.) as-does Glasenapp in Die Philosophi\~
det rnder (p-258ff). Encyclopedia FilosophiC"a (vol.?)
makes the same association qf the name "Saiva
Siddhanta' and the Tar.1il south. For all intents (lna
purposes', then, "~aiva Sidchanta r now means southerI')
Tamil .ISaivism anti more particularly
the doctrines of
Mekandar (l3th C.) and the writers comln<] after him.
sE'nce these doct.rines differ, frcrt1 t~ose of .our author~,
I r- e fer t o t h ~ s c'h 001 WIt h wh 1 C h t hIS e s s (l Y 1 S
co erned as Kashmir Saiva Dualism, 'Saiva Darsana, or
simply Saiva philotophy.
'
Aton e po i n t _ He 1 en e Brun n edr
- Lac h a u x call C'd . the
pre-Meykanqarlj Agamic-based,
anskrit lan9uage
Af.= t: a d i ! ion S a i:fv a' to", dis tin g ish . i t fro m .1> ~ ~ v il
. SI~dhanta (cf.
SornasClrnbhuoaddhatl ,T.l,PP-l, 11)
Concerning Tamil Saivism she says that the school
has
assumed the position of _an incepenc5ent. teaching whose
connections with the Agamas is certain but whose
fidelity to the iqarnic view is less ~ertain. She also
states that although this branch of Saivism is the only
one that can be said to be still flOurishing in the
south of Incia in the present time, anc is fnteresting
in its own right, she would not rely on it in the
exposition of the teachings of the Soma1;ambhupaddhati
(1085 CoE.). This latter text she considers to be in a'
different line. However~ in. a recent private
comr.mnication she has indicated that there is now no
way to avoid using the term '~aiva Siddhinta' to ref~r
to the tradition involved. I prefer to continue to use
another name inspite of the fact that,
incicated
above, it,'is by the term 'Saiva Sicdhanta' that the
writers of the texts involved, themselves. refer to
.. Gtheir doctrine. The philosophy of what is now widely
kno~by the epithet "'Saiva Siddhanta' is too different
fro;'1 that of Sacyojyoti' and his coml.lentators and this
tJa~ to be incicated somehol-/. The> best \o/ay is te', call
th~n by different n~mes
0

.f

as

...

.\It..

tho u CJ h t

5adyojyoti

the

C! ()

(9th

on

attention.

Yet

e - t1 e k and a r )

his

t r

ad i

COITl!lentators

ion

Ramakantha

1115) and Aghora~iva (flourished circa

the
i t

(p r

and

C.)

(flouri~h0d circa

113CJ-llSB)

r lie r

other

is clear

hand,
that

hits

......,."':vee

re~ce.i

there was

...

more

ittle
to

the

...

'~aivis~ of Kashmir than

. is normally associated with that

term.

for

there at
school.

there 1I1as a
the same

strong

time as

school

of

Saiva

dualism

the more well-known monistic

It is the ph i :k>sophy o-f God of this Kashmi r 'Sa iva

Duali sm of sadyojyQti

and h i,s

commentators
I

that , is

the

I"

subject 'Of this stUdy.,

LITERARY BACKGROUND OF KASHMIR SAlVA DUALISM

The

c~no~lical~. l i

bases himself

are

terature

the Sanskrit Agamas

come' or 'been. revealed).6

the fourth and

upon ,which Sadyojyoti

nin~h

('that which

T~ese were composed

has

betw.een

centuries and are 28 in number. The

6 On the Agamas cf. LesAgama Civaites by J.

filliozat, which is the introductionS to N~Bhatt's
e d i t ion 0 f the R a u r a a - A9 a ma ( Po n d i c h.e r r y., 1 9 ~ 1 J. A
valuable table of the 28 Agamas and 207 Upagamas
f 0 11 0 ws F q I i 0 z at's i n t rod u c 1:: ion For a a,i s c us s i on 0 f
_the important question as to the relationship of the
Agamas ~ to the Veda, cf. Mahadevan, op. c i L
pp-369-3 70 i
Sivararnan's ~aivism in Philosophical Perspective,p24~f. and NIP p-2flSff. "Saivism usually_considers the
Veda to be a general revelation and the Agamas to be a
spec~a.l revelation.
The latter facilitates the easy
comprehension of the essence of the former. L.Silburn~
states that ~onistic Kashmir ~aivism does not belong to
the ~ e die _ t r a ~ i t ion a r. a r'c j e c t ~ the V e d a i n L e
paramarthasara .... lntro.p-S.
I

..

ct'

canon
An

also

jnclud~s

2~7

1\gar.la is supposed t{, be made ,up of

deal

\-!ith four

section),
(meditation

separate

- -

k r i y ~ p.a d a

section)

topics:
(r i t

and

section).7 A philosophical

"

elucidate and

the

PiHt~,'

j'nanap5d<J

which

(gnos i n

sec t ion") ,

yoqapilda

the

caryapacia

(devotion

treatise "'hich attempts to

)
.

systematize '~he

p r a 1< a ran a

four

AO.JlllilS).

U il

contained in the gnosis section

i sea lIe d a

(ilnci llary

Upiigar..as

.,

information

o~

in'S a i vis rn

mostly
11

an Agama or upagilma
Sad y 0 j y 9 t. ian d his

commentators were writers in this latter genre. 8 .

..

7
C f.
B run n e r - L '0 c ha u x
i n t r o.
t 0
Somasarnbhup'addhati,p-vi ff. 'an6 Sivaraman,op.cit., p-33 .

8 Eighteen prakarana writers are listed according'

to Sa i v a t r a d i t io n ( c f. B run n e r - Lac h a u x , a p cit. , p;xxii). Ugrajyoti' is the first listed. His student,
Sadyojyoti, ds t"he second. The names Harnakar!1:ha and
Aghorasiva also occur in the 1 i st, as does thte name
Narayana (kal"!!tha) Our RarnakarHha always identifies
-himself in the colophons of. his works as the son. 'of
N a ray a n a k a I! t h a
( NIP , P - 2 ~ 4 , ~1 K , P - 6 3 , ~ , p2~,~,p68,Sardhatrisatikalottaragama,p-166)~
But this
is still no guarantee that R~makaQtha is ours. It seems
to me to be highly likely that it is.
.
Can c ern i n 9 the con f US ion 0 v e r'- t h e- n a In e
'Ramakar;Jtha' cf. K.C.Pancey's intro. to Bha~kar'i, ppxviii,xxi,xxii. Prof. Brunner-Lachaux's comm~ntJ
concerning prakarana write!'s' is worthy of note. She says
that many of them Journeyed to Kashmir' where they were
claimed by the Kashmiris to be their own,. while the
sarn~ writers werec.1aimed by
the Tamili~ns in the
south. <Cf.op.cit"p-xxii).

.-

...
"

13 lOG R 1\,r If J C 1\ L
COMt-1ENTATORS

The

JNFORt~ATrON

SAOYOJYOTI

AND

HIS

..
i nforJilat:{on~ on Sadyojyoti

biographical

scanty.9 All

ON

is

know abollt ,him i.s, that he was a student

'tIe

tn~t

of ugrajyoti and

the

trad~tion

of the Raurava

Aqa~a

is sa i a to have pe rs i sted,

unbroken,

to Sadyojyot.i.

have any direct evidence of

He do not

where he \olas fr om a I though

evidence

that

he was

from Ru rlL- th rough

it on ci rcums'ta nt i a1

take

Kashmi]:i

for

the

reasons.

His writings werewell-:knownby at

wr iter s

who were

Abhinav31gupta

b'y

and
.

,,'!r i ie r

any

four

he is

Except

not, k.noVt;1,
per i

ror

the

to my knowledge,
0

d,

11 t sid e

f
~.

It seems

went

Kashmir

.
cowmen ta tor.s

K~emaraja.

i nth erne die val

Kashmir.
to

least

Kas~hmi r is: ,N~irayanaka~~ha, \Ra~akalH:ha

Tamilian -AjOraSiVa,
I

follo\ol~ng

to me much more
and

studied

ra th~ than to have

likely that, Aghora

Sadyojyoti
brough t

the teach i ngs

of Sadyojyoti

from the south to the north,

n"o r. the r ,n e'r s

wen.t
.

".

sou th

to

and 'his

or that

study Sadyojyoti.

th~

Given

9 Fo,r the followi ng i nformat ion on SadyoJyot i cf.

Frauwall'ner,op.cit.p-8ff.; Pandey's Abhinavagupta,p170ff.; and intro.
~o
Bhaskari by Pandey
(Lucknow,1954)',p-xvff. In Abhinavagupta's TA,VIII,36,
Sadyojyoti is,called Khe~apala. In N,arayanakal)~ha's
cO(l1r.1entary -to the. NA he is call-ed Khetanandana
'.
.
throu<Jhout .

,:

'~

'.

:.~~:~:~:.: .

9 Kash TIl i r ' s s r.l a 11

s i ze

i\

Ahhinavn9u~ta'devotes

refutat ion of
n~an,

the

to my mine:,

com III e n tat 0 r s

pres,ence.

had

n d i s 0 1 at ibn 1 0,

the

( iI c

two

his

TA

to

chaplers

tec1chi
ngs
(

of

of

S,adyojyot i,

can

h Cl t
th0

onl y

that th.e latter's writings anc line o.f

con ~ tit ute c a s t ron g

a' 1 \01 a y s

In adci t ion fo th i s' the ed it or of' a

'Sadyojyo~i's

works,

N.

Kr;;!1asastri,

e v ide nee, s t a t~ ~ s " t hat Sad y 0 jy:> t i

Sad y 0' J'y 0 t i 's

d ate,

\11

1 0 cal

number of

with"out

giving

a s fro III Kash mi r. 11

g i ve n

as

the

9 the .

i s

inferred on the basis of his having become an author of

.consicerable stature

by

the

"Hote'. P.bhinava's period of

time

that

Abhi,:,!avagupta

literary actIvity is kr10wn

'-to' have extenc.led f,rom 990~l015 C'.E .12

10 Kashmir is an oval-shaped dried up lake bottom
about, 84-miles by 20-25 miles which gives it almost the
same area as Prince Edward Isla'nd. It is ringed by
mountains on' all sides with onl~ two passes. This means
that on a clear day the whole of the valley would be
visible from the right vantage poi nt. Its el,evat i on is
abo u t 5, 0 0 0 ft. w h i c h i s "a b 0 U t 2 , 0 0 0 ft. 1 e s s t han the
hill-stations of the South, Kodai Kanal and Ooty. Its
ele\Zat'ion spares it frolil 'the' punishing heat of the
plains 'to the south
(Cf.M.Stein~transl. of
Raj a tar iiJ
9 l n i , Vol 2 , P - 3 8 8) G i v e n t h i s g eo g rap h y, I
.cannot believe '~hat all of the important writers anci
commentators, and main ,schools of thought, etc., did not
know each other ~ery well in th~s v~lley.
'

11 Intro.to Astaprakaranam,

(Oeva-koottai,1923) ,p-2

12 Cf.pa~ndey in Ahhinavagupta, p-9 and his intro.-,

to _Bha~kar't,p-xvi. I list here the known works of
oSadyojyotias given in Pandey's Abhinava~uPta,p
l70f,:Bhogakarika, Mok~akarik5,ParaT:loksanira karika,
Tat t vas a n9 r a h a, Tat t vat i a ya n i r Qa ya, Na r e~ va rap a r 1 k s fJ ,
an~ the
Rauravatantravrtti which latter is not extant.

10

Sadyojyoti's signifi.cance in the history of

~aiva
I

philosophy is cue tc a eonsiclerat-'Je extent to the CJe n re

in wh i ch he chose to wr i te.
co~mentator

He "las

prir.'arily a

not

on the works of others. At least one of his

ll\10

r k5

doe sap pea r

t0

h a ve

bee n a com men tar yon

Raurava

(the

others,

,
the Tattvatrayanirnaya
anc the
.

were summations of doe,tr.ines

Agamas.

--

~on-extant Rauravata~~rav~tti)

and

the
two

Tattvasangrah~
.

contained

in; certain

But the bulk of his works are priginal

in that

they are attempts at systematic formulation anc defence

of ;Sa i va teach i ngs. They a re the on ly such 'works wh i ch
""-

.....

-we possess' in early dualistic Saivism of

this 'genre,

with ,the exception of Bhoja's Tattvaprakasika, which is

not, in any case a dualistic text although Agh?ra tries
"

to make it out as' such in his commentary on it which is

studied below in Ch.3. From Sadyojyoti's pen alone do we
possess such a profusion of texts
var-iety of topics) whi.ch makes

(six in number, on a

it possible to make out

clear attempts at systematization.

Ramakary~ha hailed from Kashmi~.13 His literary

11

activity

IS

placed in the,first quarter of

the 12thC. 14

anc was a teacher of Aghorasiva. 1S

A 9 h 0 r a$ i v a

Nadu).16

\01

fro m the

as

His period

of

Col a

literary

C' :,

n try

( T a r.1 i 1

activity was' 1130-

1158. 17

,r have included a study of a text (Bhoja's Tattyanraksika) in this essay which was not authored by Sadyojyoti
,because this text has
. .s iva.

The

colophon of
of

Ohara

Incia

in

King

~'important

Shoja

th.e TP ha s

who reigned
the first

whose

been taken
in

half

commentary by
name
U

a[>pears

Aghora~

in

the

be the Ki og Bho ja

the

Malava-Konkana region of
,
the 11th C. l8 P.S.Filliozat

of

has expressed some doubt as to whether this is the right

'King Bboja,
th~t

since 'there were several.

He

also

sU99~sts

the text may have been written by an author who was

14 Cf. Pandey, Abhinavaqupta, p-175.

"

15 Idem. 'pandey (op.cit .p-175) lists his works as

follo\-u7: Nadakarika, Paramoksanirasak~rikavrtti,
r-loksa"arik~v tti, Nare'svara arrksClvrtti;
anc' these two
. known only from references: Mantrav rtikatlk~ and
igamaviveka.
.
~.

16 Tattvatrayanirn~ya,p-3?
.
17 His works' (cf.Pandey,Abhinavaqupta,p-176):
Comrnentar ies on theTattvaprak~i kit of Dhoja, on
Sadyojyoti's Tattvasa~9rana, Tatt~atrayanirQaya anc
Bhogak1rik~, ~Fikaqtha's Ratnatraya, R~maka~tha's
. N~ d a k a r i k a an c Na r it ya n a k ant h a s v r t t ion the Nr q end r a
A..9 a m a. . The f 0 1 1 ow in 'g" a re 1< now n o n 1 y fro m
re fe re nces:Ascaryasara, Pak handapc japa, Bhak t apr aka~a,
Abhyudayanataka.
. .

12

r ~ c e i ".

n9

commentary
:5 r

0 'f

on

T k II mar a.

a I

pat ron age . 1 9

this

text,

Not h i J'] 9

biography of.

ther;e

d e fin i t e

t.his writer.

Be sid e s
is

i s

There

another

ava

is

ACJ h 0 r a's i va' s

1a C1e

by

cne

i .n

the

evir.e~ce

no direct

that either of the two commentators knew of each other's

~/ ark

a 1 tho ugh

A CJ h 0 ram a y

,....

sri~~arals

hac

h a ve

lsJ,

interpreta-tion of the TP in mine when he suggests in hi_s

introductory verse

that

others

had wrongly

uneerstcoc

the text.

STRUCTURE OF THE ESSAY

( This essay has two parts. The first, comprised of

the

first

three

conclu~io?,

is

chapters

followed

of

study

concerning God. The second,

five

and then a

the defence

the

by

positive

,Salva
.

the dualistic

is

three chapters,

,.

rI)

nto

tlJe r n u t l a

classif~tion

amount

~xpositions

ot:

in

tediousness

There are some long excursions in

the first
1

God

chapters and a certain

has been unavoidable.

study of

philosophy of

I have aimed to be thorough in the

five

fou~,

against opposing schools.

all

teaching

comprised of chapters

summary ane conclusion,

of

sumrnaryand

into

concerning

the

the

of bound souls and

19 Filliozat,p-245-246.

natu.re-of

angels,

problems 'about
into what

exactly

the
is