Sarvadarsanasamgraha Of Madhavacarya (With English Translation, Transliteration and Indices)

From the Jacket:

Samgraha primarily means a collection but here it signifies a compendium or brief exposition in a critical manner as well as in a synthetical character. The compendium that deals with the sixteen philosophical systems current in the fourteenth century in the South of India, is the Sarvadarsana-samgraha. The work is the first attempt of its kind ever made in Sanskrit to expose all the then extant philosophical systems in India as lucidly and as scholarly as possible. It is an interesting specimen of Indian critical ability. With singular stroke of genius, Madhavacarya ransacked all possible sources ranging from the Vedas down to his contemporaries to make his work as representative as possible. In a language which is both precise and forceful, he reorganized the materials and marshaled into a logical hierarchy to lead ultimately to absolute monism, the Vedanta point of view. Hence, the systems here form a gradually ascending scale, the first, the Carvaka and Buddha, being the lowest as the furthest removed from the Vedanta, and the last, the Samkhya and Yoga, being the highest as approaching most nearly to it.

The sixteen systems here discussed attracted to their study the noblest mind in India throughout the medieval period of history. We can still catch some faint echo of the din as we read the medieval literature.

Thus, the Sarvadarsana-samgraha occupies a very significant place in the philosophical literature.

The present edition of the Sarvadarsana-samgraha is a compilation. It is now for the first time the Sarvadarsana-samgraha with its English translation and transliteration altogether is brought to light. It is hoped that it will be received well by all the students and scholars interested in Indian Philosophy.

About the Author:

M.M. Agrawal is Professor in Sanskrit at University of Delhi. He is an author of many books and has contributed several papers and articles in India and abroad. Some of his outstanding books are 'The Philosophy of Nimbarka' (awarded by Sanskrit Sahitya Parisad, Calcutta), 'Bhavaprakasana of Saradatanaya' (awarded Visesa Puraskara by Sanskrit Academy, Lucknow), 'Essence of Vaisnavism' (Sophia Indological Series No. 5), 'Aspects of Indian Philosophy', 'Srimadbhagavadgita' with the commentary Gudharthadipika of Madhusudana Sarasvati (in two Vols.), 'Brahmasutra-nimbarka-bhasya' with three commentaries, viz. Vedanta-Kaustubha, Vedanta-Kaustubhaprabha, and Bhavadipika (in four Vols.), and Six systems of Indian Philosophy.

A History of Indian Philosophy is never attempted, as the absence of chronological data, the complete indifference of the ancient Indian towards personal histories, the break in tradition and the biased orthodox colouring of interpretation - which instead of a help often proves a hindrance, are some of the main reasons. The most that is achieved is the grouping of systems by reasons of their similarities, and accounts of contending views based on the desire to prove by this means the superiority of some doctrine or other. The common view of six systems, grouped in pairs, Nyaya and Vaisesika, Samkhya and Yoga, and Mimamsa and Vedanta, and treated as Astika. because they accept the Veda as authoritative, is certainly not early, though a sketch of these six is found in Siddharsi 's Upamitibhavaprapanca-katha (A.D.436). Haribhadra's Saddarsana-samuccaya (A.D. 478) deals with Buddhist views, Nyaya, Samkhya, Vaisesika and Jaiminlya as well as Jain metaphysics, and very shortly with the Carvaka views, - thus suggesting that the number six was traditional but not rigidly fixed in significance. In the Sarvadarsanasiddhanta- samgraha, which is erroneously ascribed to Sankara (A.D. 788 to A.D. 820), we find accounts of the Carvaka, the Jain system, the Buddhist schools Sautrantikas, Vaibhasikas, Madhyamikas, and Y ogacaras -Nyaya, Vaisesika, Mimamsa - according to Kumarila and Prabhakara Samkhya, Patanjali, Vedavyasa, that is the Mahabharata, and Vedanta. Later probably is the well-known Sarvadarsana > samgraha of Madhavacarya (A.D. 1302)4, which deals with the systems arranged from the point of view of relative error.

THE SARVADARSANA-SAMGRAHA OF MADHAVARYA
MADHAVACARYA

About the year 1330 A.D., the brothers Bukka and Harihara founded the city of Vijayanagar which is also called by poets Vidyanagar.

Madhavacarya, who became the head of Srngeri Matha in 1329 A.D. under the name of Vidyaranya", was their minister. He was almost the founder of the kingdom of Vijayanagar. Kings Bukka and Harihara were his favourite disciples whom he was helping with his counsel in the administration. So he was called 'Karnataka-simhasana-sthapancarya With the advent of the Empire of Vijayanagar came a revival of Sanskrit literature in South India. At the instance of Bukka, a commission of learned men was constituted under Madhava Vidyaranya and Sayana to collect, comment and preserve all works bearing on the Vedic religion. It is not surprising therefore, that Sayana-Madhava contributed a lot to the Vedic religion during this period. His works on philosophy are well-known for enumeration.

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