Old commentators of Brahmasutras - A note

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Here are some old passages on various Brahmasutra bhashyas or works on

Vedanta ( I am omitting the bibliographic information of the books I

have

referred but there is a selected biblio at the end):

 

1. Prapanchahridaya:

In an anonymous work called Prapanchahridaya, the following

description is

given about the commentators of the Mimamsa Sastra and its various

portions:

"The Mimamsa Sastra is contained in a text of 20 chapters. Of these,

the

first 16 chapters constitute the Purva Mimamsa.. Of this Mimamsa

Sastra, the

Purvakanda deals on issues of Dharma, and is compiled by Jaimini. The

last 4

chapters constitute the Uttara Kanda or the Uttara Mimamsa and are

compiled

by Vyasa for dealing with the nature of Brahman. On this Mimamsa

Sastra of

20 chapters, Bodhayana wrote a Bhasya that bore the name `Krtakoti.'

Fearing

that the great length of this commentary would cast it into oblivion,

Upavarsa somewhat abridged it. `Even this commentary might be

considered too

voluminous for study by people of dull wit'- fearing thus, Devasvamin

considerably abridged Upavarsa's already abridged commentary

considerably.

Bhavadasa also wrote a commentary on Jaimini's Sastra. Of the 2 kandas

comprising the Dharma Mimamsa Sastra, Sabara wrote a very brief

commentary

on the Tantra Kanda (Chaps 1-12), ignoring the second kanda- Samkarsa

Kanda.

And likewise, Sankarsana (textual variant- Samkarsa) wrote a brief

commentary on the Devata Kanda. On the Brahma Kanda (Brahma Sutras),

Bhagvatpada (Samkara), Brahmadatta and Bhaskara etc. too wrote

commentaries

with different interpretations of the Sutras."

 

Significantly, the list does not mention other ancient Vedantins like

Dramida, Tanka etc. who definitely wrote on the Brahmasutras. Also,

while

the list of commentators of Purva Mimamsa is chronological, this is

not the

case with the list of commentators of Brahma Sutras. For instance, we

know

that Brahmadatta preceded Samkara and Bhaskara succeeded him. So, we

may

assume that the author of Prapancahrydaya places Samkara at the head

of this

list out of regard for him or that the work Bhagavan indeed qualifies

Brahmadatta as well as Bhaskara. In the latter case, the omission of

Samkara

would indeed be puzzling.

 

The list is silent about other ancient Mimamsakas like Bhartmitra and

Bhartrhari. The word `api' while describing the Bhasya of Bhavadasa

indicates that his commentary was an independent work, often at

variance

with the traditional mode of interpretation of Purva Mimamsa sutras,

but we

cannot be sure of this.

 

2. Atmasiddhi of Yamunacarya:

" Even though Bhagavan Badrayana has composed sutras that have

precisely the

same purpose (as my present work) and these sutras were explained by

the

Bhasyakrt (Dramida Bhasyakrt in some manuscripts), whose language is

both

concise and profound, and then they were expounded in great detail by

the

Bhagavan Srivatsanka Misra himself whose language is a deep ocean of

nyaya (

gambhira nyaya sagar)".

The text continues- " Nevertheless, many persons have had their

judgment

corrupted by giving their credence to various writings of uneven

quality

that have correct and incorrect ideas interwoven through them like

warp and

woof, books such as those composed by Acarya Tanka, Bhartrprapanca,

Bhartrmitra, Bhartrhari, Brahmadatta, Samkara, Srivatsanka, Bhaskara

etc.

Since persons who have been confused in this way do not understand

things as

they really are and have many erroneous conceptions, the undertaking

of this

work or discussion with the aim of establishing a (clear,

comprehensive and

definitive) understanding (pratipatti) of the (atman and paramatman)

is

proper."

 

In this text, the Bhasyakrt is often identified with Dramidacarya.

The way

in which the Bhasyakrt is cited suggests that he is a prestigious

authority

of both Yamunacarya as well as his opponents.

 

 

The list appears to be chronological. The omission of Kapardi and

Guhadeva

is also noteworthy.

 

3. Vedarthasamgraha of Sri Ramanuja

Bhagavan Ramanujacarya, in his Vedarthasamgraha, mentions six

teachers of

Vedanta before him, who were the expounders of Visishtadvaita

philosophy.

Their names are given as

1. Bhagavadbodhayana

2. Tanka

3. Dramida

4. Guhadeva

5. Kapardi

6. Bharuchi

At the beginning of his commentary on Brahmasutras ( called the

Sribhasya),

he states- "The extensive gloss on the Brahmasutras by Bhagavan

Bodhayana

has been abridged by former teachers. In accordance with his views,

these

commentary is composed."

 

Ramanuja also quotes the views of Vakykara (also called Tanka or

Brahmanandin), Dramida and Bodhayana in Sribhasya and

Vedarthasamgraha with

attribution.

 

4. Yatindramatadipika of Srinivasadasa:

Srinivasadasa (17th Cent. C.E.), in the introduction of his

Yatindramatadipika (, gives a list of teachers as the predecessors of

Ramanuja in propounding the Visishtadvaita Vedanta:

1. Bhagavan Bodhayana

2. Guhadeva

3. Bharuchi

4. Brahmanandin (Tanka)

5. Dramida

6. Sri Parankusa ( Nammalvara Sathakopa)

7. Nathamuni

8. Yamunamuni

9. Ramanuja

Significantly, the name of Kapardi, which occurs in the

Vedarthsamgraha, is

missing in this list.

 

In the epilogue of the same work, Srinivasadasa mentions a list of

works (in

chronological order) which he had referred to compose the

Yatindramatadipika. The list is headed by `Dramidabhasya', followed

by works

of Nathamuni and so on. Surprisingly, no work of Guhadeva, Bharuchi

or Tanka

is mentioned in the list.

 

 

5. Sesha, the commentator on the Madhava Vijaya of Narayana Bhatta,

states

that Madhavacharya refuted 21 Bhasyas on the Sariraka Sutras that were

written by teachers before him. These are enumerated as-

1. Bharativijaya

2. Samvidaananda

3. Brahmaghosha

4. Shataananda

5. Vaagbhatta

6. Vijaya

7. Rudra Bhatta

8. Vamana

9. Yadava Prakasa

10. Ramanuja

11. Bhartrprapanca

12. Dravida

13. Brahmadatta

14. Bhaskara

15. Pisacha

16. Vrttikara

17. Vijaya Bhatta

18. Visnukranta

19. Vaadindra

20. Madhavadesaka

21. Samkaracarya

The list is clearly non-chronological. For example, the Vrttikaara,

the

oldest commentator on the Brahmasutras, is placed in the middle.

Moreover,

all these writers did not flourish before Samkaracarya (for instance

# 9,

10, 14, 15).

 

Gathering exact details about the views and personal information on

these

ancient teachers is a difficult task. I am in the process of creating

webpages on each of them and the one on Brahmadatta should be up by

next

week. For Sundara Pandya and Bharuchi, see the relevant webpages via

my

homepage at

 

http://www.voi.org/vishal_agarwal/homepage.html

 

(Note that the link of Brahmadatta is not yet active)

 

Some useful references:

 

 

Mimamsaka, Yuddhishthhira; 1977; Mimamsa-sabarabhashyam, Vol. I;

Ramalal

Kapoor Trust, Bahalgarh, Distt. Sonepat, Haryana (In Hindi or

Sanskrit- see

the introd.)

 

Kane, P. V.; 1928; Vedanta Commentators before

Sankaracarya; "Proceedings

and Transactions, Fifth Indian Oriental Conference"; Vol. 2, pg. 937-

953

 

Pandey, Sangam Lal; 1983; Pre Samkara Advaita Philosophy; Darshan

Peeth,

Allahabad, India. First published in 1974. Reprinted in 1983

 

Thangaswami, R; 1980; Advaita-Vedanta Literature, A Bibliographical

Survey;

University of Madras; Madras (In Sanskrit)

 

Udayvira Shastri; 1970; Vedanta Darsana ka Itihasa; Virajananda

Vaidika

Sodha Samsthana; Ghaziabad (Uttar Pradesh)--in Hindi

 

J. A. B. van Buitenen; Ramanuja's Vedarthasamgraha; Deccan College

Postgraduate and Research Institute; Poona; 1956 (See appendix and

introd.)

 

S. Kuppuswami Sastri; Bodhayana and Dramidacarya, Two old Vedantins

presupposed by Ramanuja; "Proceedings and Transactions of 3rd

Oriendtal

Conference"; Vo. 53, pg. 468-472; 1924

 

D. H. H. Ingalls; "The Study of Sankaracarya"; "Bhandarkar Oriental

Research

Institute"; vol. 33, part 1-4, pg.1-14, 1952; Poona, India

 

Mysore Hiriyanna; "Fragments of Bhartrprapanca"; Proceedings of All

India

Oriental Conference; Vol. 3, pg. 439-450, 1924

 

Mysore Hiriyanna; "Bhartrprapanca-An old Vedantin"; Indian Antiquary;

vol.

53, pgs. 77-86; 1924

 

A. Sankaran; "The Vrttikaragrantha"; Journal of Oriental Research;

Vol. 1,

pg. 283-286; 1927

 

Mysore Hiriyanna; Brahmadatta: An old Vedantin; Journal of Oriental

Research; Vol. 2, pg. 1-9, 1928

 

Mysore Hiriyanna; "Fragments from Brahmanandin"; "Commemorative Essays

Presented to Prof. Kashinath Bapuji Pathak" Class B. No. 7; Bhandarkar

Institute Press, Poona, India

 

V. A. Ramaswami Sastri; "Old Vrttikaras on the Purvamimamsasutras";

Indian

Historical Quaterly; Vol. 10, pg. 431-452, 1934

 

Hajime Nakamure; A History of Early Vedanta Philosophy; Motilal

Banarsidass;

Delhi, India

 

Regards

 

Vishal

 

Homepage- http://www.voi.org/vishal_agarwal/homepage.html