A History of Early Vedanta Philosophy (Part II)

The History of the Vedanta school is well-known since the time of Sankara but its prehistory before Sankara is quite obscure. However, there is a period of a thousand years between the compilation of the major Upanisads of Sankara without loss of the tradition of the Upanisads; there appeared many philosophers and dogmaticians, although their thoughts are not clearly known. In A History of Early Vedanta Philosophy, the author made clear the details of the pre-Sankara Vedanta philosophy, utilizing not only Sanskrit materials, but also Pali, Prakrit as well as Tibetan and Chinese sources. In this respect, this epoch-making work was awarded the imperial Prize by the Japan Academy. Nearly 60 years have already passed since its publication in Japanese. Meanwhile, new research has been reported in such fields as Bhartrhari and the like. Nevertheless, none can take the place of the author’s achievement in the field of pre-Sankara Vedanta. This Part Two is a complete English translation of Vols. III and IV of the Japanese version, with many additions and revisions done by the author himself. It will be an important literature indispensable not only to those, who are specialists in the study of Vedanta but also to those engaged in the study of Indian thought in general.