Rauravottarāgama by N. R. BhattReview by: Sheldon PollockJournal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 105, No. 4 (Oct. - Dec., 1985), pp. 804-805Published by: American Oriental SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/602801 .

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804 Journal of the American Oriental Societ I, 105.4 (1985)

perspective and differentiation in Dr. Balslev's presentation. No serious attempt has been made to distinguish levels of development in the different schools, and references to very old (e.g., Vaigesikasutra) and very late (e.g., Upaskdra or Bhasapariccheda) sources have often been lumped together in a manner which does not do justice to the internal variability of the Indian schools of thought.

The "intercultural perspective" towards the end of the book is again somewhat sketchy. Nevertheless, it contains some useful and basically valid clarifications for the general histo- rian of ideas who wants to understand the puzzling notion of time in an intercultural context. The cautionary remarks on the familiar characterization of the Indian notion of time as "cyclic" and of the Judeo-Christian notion as "linear" (see pp. 140-50: "A note on the cyclic and the linear notions of time") are particularly welcome in this respect. Whatever the other merits or weaknesses of this "study of time" may be, it certainly demonstrates how much remains to be done in this challenging area of investigation.

WILHELM HALBFASS

UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA

Moksa in Jainism, According to Umasvati. By ROBERT

J. ZYDENBOS. Pp. ix + 81. (Beitrage zur Sudasienforschung, Sudasien-Institut, Universitat Heidelberg, Band 83.) Wies- baden: FRANZ STEINER VERLAG. 1983.

The Tattvdrthasfitra (TS) is one of the oldest and most important philosophical texts of Jainism. Moksa in Jainism (MJ) contains an annotated English translation of Umasvati's commentary on the tenth and final chapter of the TS. This chapter contains a detailed account of the Jain conception of liberation (moksa) and of several questions related to it: the means of freeing oneself from karma, the state of a perfected soul (siddha), the number of siddhas and the place where they dwell, how time affects the process of liberation, the super- human powers of a siddha, and so forth. The MJ is the author's doctoral thesis presented to the University of Utrecht in 1981. Umasvati's commentary on the TS has not been translated previously into any European language. Zydenbos' partial translation, therefore, is most welcome, and we should hope that it is a first step toward a complete translation of this important work.

In addition to the translation, the MJ contains a brief introduction, the text and commentary of the tenth chapter reprinted from the Bibliotheca Indica edition, and an index. It is the introduction that causes problems and frustrations for the reader. First, it is too brief (15 pages) to do even minimal

justice to a text and a topic of such significance. Second, Zybendos devotes an inordinate amount (9 pages) of the limited space to an unnecessary explanation of moksa which can be picked up in any introduction to Indian religions and to a technical study of the controversy regarding the author- ship and the date of the TS and the commentary. All this leaves only six pages for the substantive discussion of the argument of the text and the commentary.

The notes to the translation, although they often give valuable information and explanations, do not make up the deficiencies of the introduction. Twice, for example, Umasvati refers to a sutra of the first chapter (TS 1.3): tan nisargad a(Ihiganiad v7-"Right understanding arises) spontaneously or through study" (cf. MJ pp. 24, 33). This reader was very curious as to how understanding could arise spontaneously. Zybendos supplies no information either in the introduction or in the notes. Given such references to earlier chapters of the work, moreover, it would have been helpful if the author had given a brief summary of the first nine chapters of the TS and commentary.

The translation has been done with care. It is accurate but often too literal. The author's strategy of leaving numerous Sanskrit terms untranslated will make it difficult for non- Sanskritists to read it. Even Sanskritists will find it annoying to meet twenty or thirty untranslated terms on most pages. Translating technical terms is always a problem and a chal- lenge. It is probably best to leave some, such as dharma, samsara, and karma, untranslated. Leaving most such terms untranslated, however, only transfers the problem from the translator to the reader.

Despite the shortcomings, however, the MJ is a welcome addition to the systematic study of Jain thought, for too long a neglected area of Indian philosophy and religion.

PATRICK OLIVELLE

INDIANA UNIVERSITY

Rauravottaragania. By N. R. BHATT. Pp. CXX + 190. Pondi- cherry: INSTITUT FRANVAIS DWINDOLOGIE. 1983.

Thanks to the diligent and seemingly tireless editorial efforts of N. R. Bhatt, and the support of the French Institute of Indology, the vast corpus of texts of the Saiva Siddhanta is slowly being brought to publication. Of the twenty-eight midagamas or principal texts of the school, two have so far been published in this series: The Rauravagama (2 volumes, 1962-72; IFI publication no. 18; a third volume is in prepara- tion); and The Ajitagama (2 volumes, 1963-67; no. 24). In addition, texts supplemental to these, namely the upagamas,

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Brief Review s of Books 805

are in the course of publication: The Mrgendrigama (1962; no. 23); The Matahgapdramesvarigama (2 volumes, 1977-82; nos. 56 and 65), and T7he Srdhatrkkatikalottara (1979; no. 61).

The Rauravottarigama falls into the category of upagama, being one of six texts that supplements the Rauravaigama. (A complete table of these works and their interrelationships can be found in Jean Filliozat's Introduction to the Rauravigama, Vol. 1, pages that might usefully be reproduced in coming volumes.) Like all the volumes edited by Mr. Bhatt, this critical edition is a model of orderliness and good sense. The work is based on five manuscripts, though the editor none- theless has reason to believe that portions of the text are missing. In contrast to the other upa-gamas so far published, no commentary on the Rauravottara is available. The deficiency Mr. Bhatt has made good by citing in the critical apparatus illuminating parallel passages from cognate texts, evincing a command of the literature few people in the world can match.

The work itself consists of twenty chapters, detailing the varieties of temples, divine images and their installation ceremonies, types of lingas and the installation ceremonies for them. Mr. Bhatt prefaces the text with a detailed inventory of the contents of the book (in French and Sanskrit, with English summary), and closes with a convenient alphabetical list of half-?lokas.

SHELDON POLLOCK

THE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA

Yajiiapaii Jpadhvia a's Taltvacintimaniprabhh (Anumina- khandah). By GOPIKAMOHAN BHATTACHARYA. Pp. 198. Vienna: VERLAG DER OSTERREICHISCHEN AKADEMIE DER

WISSENSCHAFTEN. 1984. OS 280.- / DM 40.-

While not perhaps the most original treatise of Navyanydya (that distinction probably belongs to Raghunatha's Padir- thatattvaniruipana), Gangega's Tattvacintimani is rightly viewed as the most influential (so B. K. Matilal). As Daniel Ingalls has pointed out, perhaps half of Navyanydya litera- ture consists of commentary or sub-commentary on this one text. But just as the Tattvacintamani, despite its impor- tance, remains largely undigested in the West (an English translation has yet, I believe, to be attempted), so this vast commentarial literature has been scarcely accessible, in this case because it exists for the most part in manuscript form only. Thanks to the efforts of a learned generation of present- day Navyanaiydyikas, however, this is changing.

The last decade has seen, among other significant con- tributions, the appearance of a new edition of Gafigega's

masterpiece along with the Prakdga of Rucidattamigra and the sub-commentary of Ramakrsnadhvarin, edited by one of the finest young Sanskrit scholars in India today, N. S. Ramanuja Tatacharya (Tirupati, 1973ff.; so far two volumes, containing the PratVaksakhanda and Anuminakhanda have been published). The edition here under consideration of Yajfiapati's commentary on the Anuminakhanda, prepared by the learned Gopikamohan Bhattacharya (director of the Institute of Indic Studies, Kurukshetra University), is a valuable addition to this growing corpus.

The commentary of Yajfiapati (ca. 1410-1470) is the earli- est surviving on the second book of the Tattvacintdmani, that on inference. An important link between Gangega and Raghunatha, Yajfiapati was a brilliant logician, who inaugu- rated a century of perhaps the most fertile thinking about logic in the history of Navyanyaya. The present work is not simply exegetical; it assesses the views of the earlier generation of commentators, at times taking issue with Gangega himself. And it provoked a substantial response in its own right in the following generations, a fact that the edition of Prof. Bhattacharya has turned to good advantage.

This editio princeps is based on the transcript of a unique palm-leaf manuscript once housed in the Darbhanga Raj Library and now apparently missing. The transcript is a most imperfect one, and obscurities, sometimes very serious obscurities, remain in the published edition. But Prof. Bhattacharya, through his mastery of the later literature, has often been able to correct it by referring to commentators who seek either to defend or refute Yajfiapati and so quote him at length (the son of Yajfiapati, Narahari Upadhyaya, for example, or Jayadeva). Despite the fact that the greater part of such commentaries likewise exists only in manuscript form, Prof. Bhattacharya has been able to make them his own, and so shed light on what otherwise would have remained impenetrable darkness.

The work is given in Roman transliteration, understandably without the text of Gangeia, which would have swollen the book to little advantage. The introduction discusses what is known of Yajfiapati's life and circumstances, and offers a detailed analysis of some thirty pages (in English) of the contents of the treatise.

Altogether, the volume gives testimony to the editor's vast learning in the field of Navyanyaya. One hopes that, when and if the original manuscript-or perhaps some photocopy thereof-comes to light, Prof. Bhattacharya will provide us with a second edition, in order to make this very significant work even more accessible.

SHELDON POLLOCK

THE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA

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