Between Vatsyayana and Vacaspati, the Nyayabhasyavarttika reigns supreme as the only work by Udyotkara. It explains, true to the definition of varttika, nearly every word of the Nyayabhasya, adds fresh elements and sometimes criticizes the earlier position. In this work, it is claimed, the original views of Aksapada, the father of Nyaya, have been rescued from the onslaught of 'bad logicians' with Nagarjuna, Vasubandhu and Dignaga. Concerning doubt, liberation, fallacies, refutation of the Buddhist theories of momentariness, difference theory of meaning of general words, relation of part and whole, etc., clear philosophical advancement is evinced in the Varttika. As the second volume of the vast Nyaya-Caturgranthika project, this edition is unique in providing a critical text based on hitherto undiscovered source material, as well as giving all the variants in the footnotes. These sources have for the first time enabled the editor to reconstruct an unmutilated version of the Varttika on I.i.9 which was hopelessly fragmented before.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Anantalal Thakur
Anantalal Thakur (b. 1916), the doyen of Indian Philosophy, is an internationally known authority on Nyaya, Vaisesika, Buddhist and Jaina systems of philosophy as well as on manuscriptology. He was Professor of Sanskirt at Mithila Research Institute, Mithila, Prakrit Jain Institute, Vaisali, Kameshwar Singh Sanskrit University, Darbhanga, and Burdwan University. He was the Director of K.P. Jaiswal Research Institute, Patna and the Research Director both at The Asiatic Society and Sitaramdas Omkarnath Research Institute in Calcutta. He has thrown new light on different branches of Indological Studies and presented invaluable source material for the young researchers of today through his large number of books and research papers published during the last five decades. He is the recipient of Certificate of Honour for Sanskirt by the President of India (1991). The title of Mahamahopadhyaya was conferred on him by Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeetha (Deemed University) in 1996 in recognition of his life-time contribution to Sanskrit Studies. His major publications include: Jnanasrimitranibandhavali; Ratnakirtinibandavali; Nyayalankara of Abhayatilaka; Nyayacaturgranthika; Tatparyavivaranapanjika of Aniruddha; Srikanthatippanaka; Vaisesikavarttika of Bhattavadindra and Gangavamsanucarita. His recent study on the Scientific Knowledge in the Mahabharata is a landmark in the history of Indological studies.
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