[South Indian Sanskrit MS 117, Whish MS 114] Tarkacūḍāmaṇi

Tarkacūḍāmaṇi

Language – Sanskrit

Date – [1800?]
Palm leaf; from 10 to 13 lines on a folio. The first folio and f.28 of the second text are slightly damaged. The 8 folios of the last text are numbered by the akṣaras of the invocation ‘hariḥ śrīgaṇapataye namaḥ’ as follows: hariḥ=1, śrī=2, ga=3, ṇa=4, pa=5, ta=6, ye=7, namaḥ=8.

Manuscript consists of the following texts: 1. the Tarkacūḍāmaṇi (a commentary on the Anumāna chapter of Rucidatta’s Tattvacintāmaṇiprakāśa) by Bahvṛca Dharmarāja, “an inhabitant of Kaṇḍaramāṇikyagrāma (MS has Kaṇṭaramāṇikka), and son of Trivedinārāyaṇayajvan of the Kauṇḍinyagotra”; MS is incomplete (ff.56); 2. a commentary on Gaurīkānta Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya’s Tarkabhāṣābhāvārthadīpikā (commentary on Keśavamiśra’s Tarkabhāṣā); incomplete (ff.97); 3. a fragment of the Prakriyāsarvasva (9 ff, numbered as ff.112-120), apparently by Nārāyaṇa, who is described by the Mahārāja of Travancore (in the Journal of the RAS Vol. XVI, 1884, p.449) as ‘the most popular and well-admired author of prakriyāsarvasvam, dhātukāvyam, nārāyaṇīyam, etc”; 4. fragment of a Gaṇapāṭha (ff.8), perhaps part of the preceding work.

Winternitz notes that there is an entry by C. M. Whish: “This volume contains the Tarkka-Chūḍāmaṇih; a work by Bāhwṛicha Dharmmarajah; in refutation of the Nyāya or philosophy of Gautamah; the founder of the Nayyāyikah or Aristotelian Sect – and also a second work on the same subject by the same author.”

Text of the Tarkacūḍāmaṇi begins: kāverīvāripānapratihatatamasām maṇḍite paṇḍitānāṃ nyandai[?] śrī-Rāmacandra smṛtibalaviśadāśeṣatantrārtthasāraḥ deśe vikhyātavāso vividhagurukapāleśato labdhabodho nyāyābdhin tarkkacūḍāmaṇim iha kurute Bahvṛco Dharmmarājaḥ |

It breaks off with the following words (f.56): uktaprāyam iti abhedajñānasya pravarttakatve sthāp(y)ate icchājanakatvam api tasyaivoktaprāyam ity artthaḥ ‘numāneneti | idaṃ sukhaṃ sukhapūrvavartti sukhatvād ity anumānenety artthaḥ ‘siddheḥ

Text of the commentary on Gaurīkānta Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya’s Tarkabhāṣābhāvārthadīpikā begins: namas te śārade devi kaśmīrapuravāsini | tvām ahaṃ prārttha[y]iṣyāmi vidyādānan tu dehi me || Gaurīkāntakṛti svatotiviśadānāghrātadoṣāpy asau bālānāṃ hṛdayaṃ na rañjayati yat prauḍhasya ceto yathā | taddoṣāya bhavaty ataḥ prakaṭayan bhāvaṃ vicāryyānayā kurve Keśavabhāvanānugatayā bālapramodaṃ paraṃ |

F.97 ends: dravyeti dravyasamavetalaukikacākṣuṣatvaṃ kāryyatāvacchedakaṃ ālokasaṃyogatvaṃ kāraṇatāvacchedakaṃ ….. dravyaviṣayakalaukikacākṣuṣatvasya rūpatvādimātraviṣayakanirvikalpake samavetaviṣayakalaukikacākṣuṣatvasyātiprasaktatayā dravyasamavetaviṣayakalaukikacākṣuṣatvaṃ kāryyatāvacchedakam ity uktaṃ rūpādikā

Text of the fragment of the Prakriyāsarvasva begins: brāhmaṇimatā brāhmaṇihatā | pulliṃgasādhāraṇasyety ukteḥ pṛthivītarety atra na | nadyāś śeṣasyānyatarasyāṃ | ṅyantavarjjitasya nadīsaṃjñasya ṅyanteṣv ekā ca ścaghādau hrasvo vā syāt | etc.

It ends: saṃkṣepātiśayepi vācyabahutā hetor abhūd vistaraḥ spaṣṭatvepi kṛte svabhāvagaṇanābhāgāmanāga sphuṭāḥ | evaṃ vyaktim iyān padārttha iyatā granthena yātoyam ity evaṃ yo vimṛśet sa eva kalayed asmannibandhe guṇān | hariḥ gurubhyo namaḥ ||

It ends: caupayatacaikayatacaiṭayatabailvayatasaikayatānāñ ca | caupayatyā caikayatyā caiṭayatyā bailvayatyā saikayatyā iti ||

For more extensive quotations from the texts, see Winternitz catalogue entry.

South Indian Sanskrit / Whish Manuscript Collection.

See ’A catalogue of South Indian Sanskrit manuscripts (especially those of the Whish Collection) belonging to the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland’ by M. Winternitz, with an appendix by F. W. Thomas (London: RAS, 1902) p.166-169. Go to http://tinyurl.com/j3tkdwj for a digital copy of this catalogue. For the Tarkacūḍāmaṇi see also ‘Classified index to the Sanskrit MSS. in the Palace at Tanjore’ by A. C. Burnell (London, 1880), p.115. For the commentary on Gaurīkānta S. B.’s Tarkabhāṣābhāvārthadīpikā see also ‘Catalogue of the Sanskrit manuscripts in the Library of the India Office’ by Julius Eggeling (London, 1887-), Pt. IV by E. Windisch and J. Eggeling, p.607.

J. L. Whish, gift of manuscripts collected by his brother C. M. Whish, July 1836.

Text in Sanskrit; Grantha script.