FEATURED PUBLICATIONS
Philosophical Foundation of Bengal Vaisnavism
In this book, written by Sudhir Chandra Chakrabarti, one finds a detailed exploration of the philosophical ideas as found in the Vaiṣṇava philosophical school of Bengal. The philosophy of achintyabhedābheda has been explained. The nature of bhakti as the means of attaining the ultimate goal of human life viz. Love for God has been elucidated. The aesthetic significance of the conception of Krṣṇa as the embodiment of all rāsas have been presented. The fifteen chapters in the book are 1. The attitude towards epistemology, 2. The psychological basis of knowledge and the nature of the error, 3. A synoptic view of Bengal Vaiṣṇavism, 4. Jīva Goswamin’s conception of Bhagavat, 5. The Bhagavat as the Ground of Jīva-śakti and Māya-śakti, 6. The doctrine of Causation in Bengal Vaiṣṇavism, 7. Kriṣṇa and His incarnations, 8. Bhakti, the means of God-Realisation, 9. The supreme realisation, 10. Bengal Vaiṣṇavism and Kierkegaard’s Existentialism, 11. The Place of Ethics in Bengal Vaiṣṇavism, 12. Acintya-Bhedābheda, 13. Rāsa (Relish), 14. Christianity and Bengal Vaiṣṇavism, 15. Conclusion.
Vaibhāṣika Darśaṇ বৈভাষিক দর্শন
The present book contains a detailed presentation of the main philosophical ideas of Vaibhaṣika school of Buddhism. The book is in two volumes. The first volume has the following chapters: 1. Introducing Sarvāstivāda, 2. Determining the asamskṛta qualities, 3, Rupaskandha, 4. Determining momentariness, 5. Hetuphalābhāva, 6. Citta cittasāmānya, 7. Pratītyasamutpada, 8. Refutation of God, 9. Avayavaikhnaḍana and 10. Anasrava samskṛta dharma. The second volume contains the following chapters: 1. Pramāṇa, 2. Pratyakṣa and 3, Anumāna.
अवच्छेदकत्वनिरुक्ति: (Avacchedakattvaniruktiḥ)
In this book, Jagadīśa offers commentary on the nature of vyāpti as mentioned by Raghunatha Śiromaṇī in his Didhīti. Jagadīśa talks about two kinds of vyāpakatva in great detail. In this context, Jagadīśa alludes to the concept of avacchedakata and explains these allaying all the possible questions that one could raise in this context.
Kiratarjunuyam (Canto-II)
Kiratarjuniyam is an English rendering and explanation of the second canto of Kiratarjuniyam written by Bharavi. Saradaranjan Ray, the editor of the book, has added Mallinatha’s commentary along with its translation in English. The book also contains a Bengali translation of the second canto of the original Sanskrit text.
Darśana Manīṣā Categories
प्रामाण्यवाद: (Prāmāṇyavādaḥ)
In this book, Harirama Tarkavagisa critically assesses the Mīmāṃśa theory of self-luminosity of knowledge. According to Prabhākara, the knower, the object of knowledge and the knowledge itself are apprehended in one go. The Bhaṭṭa Mīmāṃsakas hold that knowledge is inferred through a property called knownness. Murāri Miśra, another Mīmāṃsaka philosopher, holds that knowledge is known in a subsequent knowledge called introspection. Harirāma, following the footsteps of Gaṅgeśa, argues that since sometimes doubt regarding the validity of knowledge arises in the third moment after the origin of knowledge, the validity of the knowledge is apprehended by something other than the totality of the causal conditions of that knowledge. Harirama further argues that there is something wrong with the thesis that knowledge is self-luminious.
शब्दशक्तिप्रकाशिका (Śabdaśaktiprakāśikā (Vol-2))
In the second volume of Śabdaśaktiprakāśikā, Jagadīśa presents a detailed analysis of Prabhākara’s kāryānvitaśaktivāda and refutes this view. Jagadīśa defends the niravacchinna śaktivāda of the words like ākāśa etc. The view of Raghuntha Siromani with regard to the causal nexus of linguistic understanding has been refuted. Jagadisa offers an analysis of the nature of paribhāṣika śabda and argues that proper names given to individuals do not have śakti and they are to be treated as paribhāśaika śabda. Jagadīśa defends the view that śakti resides in all the three loci: the individual, the universal and the relation of samavāya that holds between an individual and the universal. Jagadīśa also refutes the Mīmāṃsaka view that the sentence has lakṣaṇā and the view of Ālaṃkārika regarding the vyāñjanā relation has been rejected. In this book, Jagadīśa offers a detailed analysis of different kinds of lakṣaṇā and in this context, one comes across a criticism of the Prabhākara thesis that the word having lakṣaṇā is not the cause of syntactic knowledge of the sentence. This book ends with an analysis of the nature of yogaruḍa śabda.
शक्तिबाद (Śaktivādaḥ)
In this book, Gadādhara Bhattāchārya presents a theory of the meaning of words. This work is divided into three chapters: 1. Sāmānyakāṇḍa, 2. Viśesakāṣḍa and 3. Pariśiṣtakāṇḍa. In Sāmānyakaṇḍa, the author undertakes a detailed analysis of vṛtti of words. Here one comes across a definition of śakti in terms of which a word denotes its meaning. The theory of anvitābhidhāna has been refuted. In the Viśeṣakaṇḍa, the author undertakes an analysis of the meaning of words denoting an individual and the meaning of the words denoting a universal. Prabhākara theory of meaning has been refuted. This chapter contains an analysis of indexicals and demonstratives. The third chapter viz. Pariśiṣtakaṇḍa contains a defence of the view that the śakti of a word lies in the individual that is qualified by the corresponding universal. Views of several Mīmāṃsaka philosophers have been critically assessed.
क्रोड्पत्त्रसंग्रहः (Krodapattrasangraha or Critical Notes)
This book is a collection of short essays by Kāliśankara Siddhāntavāgīsa on different issues in Navya-Nyāya. The essays in the present collection include discourses on Gadādhara’s theory of Prāmāṇya, 2. Gadādhara’s theory of Anumāna, 3. On Vyāptipañcaka, 4. On Siṅhavyāghralakṣaṇa, 5. Gadādhara’s theory of Vyādhikaraṇa, 6. On the Siddhāntalakṣaṇa, 7. Gadādhara’s theory of Anugama of Vyāpti, 8. Gadādhara’s theory of Pakṣatā, 10. Gadādhara’s theory of Avayava, 11. Gadādhara’s theory of Sāmānyanirukti, 12. On Savyabhicara, 13. On Sādharaṇa, 14. On Asādharaṇa and 15. On Satpratipakṣa.
अवच्छेदकत्वनिरुक्ति: (Avacchedakattvaniruktiḥ)
In this book, Jagadīśa offers commentary on the nature of vyāpti as mentioned by Raghunatha Śiromaṇī in his Didhīti. Jagadīśa talks about two kinds of vyāpakatva in great detail. In this context, Jagadīśa alludes to the concept of avacchedakata and explains these allaying all the possible questions that one could raise in this context.
BROWSE BY LANGUAGE
The Philosophy of Word and Meaning
Gaurinath Sastri, the author of this book, reconstructs the whole philosophy of Bhartṛhari. Bhartṛhari is the first philosopher in Indian tradition to build an entire philosophical system on a theory of language. The present book contains the following chapters: 1. The Supreme Reality, 2. The Supreme Power, 3. Functioning of Powers, 4. Correspondence of Form and Matter, 5. The Empiric World of Realities, 6. Word: What It Is, 7. Import of Words, and 8. Import of Propositions. The author presents Bhartṛhari’s thesis on the metaphysics of word and its manifestation in the form of the empirical world. There is a detailed discussion on the nature of sub-sentential parts like varṇa, pada etc. An elaborate discussion on the nature of knowledge of the different parts of a sentence resulting in the knowledge of the whole sentence can be found in this book. A comparative estimate of the relevant views of other Grammarians and other schools of classical Indian philosophy has been attempted by the author.
On the Dramatic System of The Hindus
Of the Dramatic System of the Hindus is a short treatise on the salient features of classical Sanskrit Drama. Horace Hayman Wilson divides the book into eight chapters starting with a description of the authorities of the Hindu dramatic system and ending with a description of the scientific apparatus.
Facts of Buddhist Thought
The present book comprises three chapters: 1. Pratītyasamutpāda in Buddhist philosophy, 2. The Mādhyamika and the philosophy of language and 3. Idealism and Absolutism - A Buddhist synthesis. In the first chapter A.K.Chatterjee, the author, traces the theory of pratītyasamutpāda from the Abhidharmika stage through Mādhyamika and Yogācāra interpretations. In the second chapter, the author defends the Mādhyamika position in terms of metalanguage and object-language distinction. The third chapter takes up the issue of Yogācāra idealism in terms of sahopalambha-niyama and shows how idealism culminates in Absolutism.
