[INDOLOGY] Mokṣopāya completed

Fri Aug 22 05:27:48 UTC 2025

Dear Alex and John,

>  Food for thought

You said it!

On the other hand, it is undoubtedly true that even if Śaṅkara's teachings
were known to a few authors in Kashmir at that time, he cannot have played
a significant role, since one has to search for him with a magnifying glass
in authentic Kashmiri texts, as can be seen from the two important papers
sent by John and Alex. Otherwise, the question of Śaṅkara's intellectual
presence in Kashmir would not have arisen. Therefore, Śaṅkara was either
barely known or more or less ignored.

However, if we assume that Bhāskara (the author of the Śārīrakamīmāṃsā- and
Bhagavadgītābhāṣyas) actually came from Kashmir — for what other reason
would he have known and quoted the Bhagavadgītā almost exclusively in its
Kashmiri recension? — then this would suggest at least one detailed
critical engagement with Śaṅkara in Kashmir. (On a less serious note, was
he unable to recover from Bhāskara's final blow in Kashmir?)

More food for thought?

Yours,
Walter

Am Fr., 22. Aug. 2025 um 00:39 Uhr schrieb Alex Watson <
alex.watson at ashoka.edu.in>:

> Dear All
>
> 1. I have written something about the kind of Vedānta known to Sadyojyotis
> (675–725 CE) and Rāmakaṇṭha (950–1000 CE): see pp. 23–27 of the attachment.
>
> 2. The footnote by Sanderson on this topic, cited many times since he
> wrote it in the first half of the 1980s (e.g. in the article by Andrea Acri
> shared by John Nemec) reads:
> “When Vedānta is expounded by its opponents in Kashmirian sources of our
> period it is the doctrine of Maṇḍanamiśra which is generally in mind [...].
> To my knowledge no source betrays familiarity with the doctrines of
> Śaṅkara.”
> To support the contention that Kashmirian sources draw on Maṇḍanamiśra
> rather than Śaṅkara to compose their Vedānta-pūrvapakṣas, he lists passages
> in the Paramokṣanirāsakārikā, the Nyāyamañjarī and the Tantrālokaviveka.
> The inclusion there of Jayaratha's Tantrālokaviveka implies that at the
> time of writing the footnote he had found no trace of Śaṅkara in that
> text.  But if my memory serves me correctly, he did subsequently find it in
> that text of Jayaratha.  That would date the earliest definite knowledge of
> Śaṅkara in Kashmir to the beginning of the 13th century.
>
> 3.  Elliot Stern once sent me the following possible piece of evidence for
> familiarity with Śaṅkara in Jayanta's Nyāyamañjarī (c. 890 CE):
>
> Nyāyamañjarī (Mysore ed. p. 466.2-3):
> nanu yady ekam eva brahma na dvitīyaṃ kiñcid asti, tarhi tad brahma
> nityaśuddhabuddhasvabhāvatvāt muktam evāste.
>
> Śaṅkara’s Brahmasūtrabhāṣyam (NSP 1938 edition, 2.3.40: p. 616.7):
> api ca nityaśuddhabuddhamuktātmapratipādanān mokṣasiddhir abhimatā.
>
> (1.1.4: p. 113.1): nityaśuddhabuddhamuktasvabhāvaḥ
>
> Śaṅkara uses nityaśuddhabuddhamukta and similar expressions several times
> in this work.  Nothing like it appears in Brahmasiddhiḥ or Gaudapāda’s
> kārikāḥ.
>
> This is of course not conclusive, for Jayanta could be drawing on a third
> source.
>
> Yours,
> Alex
> --
> Alex Watson
> Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Indian Philosophy
> Professor of Indian Philosophy, Ashoka University
> *https://ashokauniversity.academia.edu/AlexWatson
> <https://ashokauniversity.academia.edu/AlexWatson>*
>
> On Thu, Aug 21, 2025 at 7:20 PM Nemec, John William (jwn3y) via INDOLOGY <
> indology at list.indology.info> wrote:
>
>> Dear Harry, Walter, and All,
>>
>> Andrea Acri has written about this, and I have downloaded the relevant
>> article from his academia.edu page and attach it here.
>>
>> See p. 578 environ, and Andrea may be right that I (and several others)
>> might be wrong about whether Śaṅkara was known in the Valley around this
>> time.
>>
>> Food for thought.
>>
>> As Ever,
>> John
>>
>> ___________________________________________
>> John Nemec, Ph.D.
>> Professor of Indian Religions and South Asian Studies
>> Department of Religious Studies
>> 323 Gibson Hall, 1540 Jefferson Park Avenue
>> University of Virginia
>> Charlottesville, VA 22904
>> +1 (434) 924-6716
>> nemec at virginia.edu
>> https://virginia.academia.edu/JNemec
>>
>> Take a look at my new book:
>>
>> https://global.oup.com/academic/product/brahmins-and-kings-9780197791998?cc=us&lang=en&
>> ------------------------------
>> *From:* INDOLOGY <indology-bounces at list.indology.info> on behalf of
>> Walter Slaje via INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info>
>> *Sent:* Thursday, August 21, 2025 1:12 PM
>> *To:* Harry Spier <vasishtha.spier at gmail.com>
>> *Cc:* Indology <indology at list.indology.info>
>> *Subject:* Re: [INDOLOGY] Mokṣopāya completed
>>
>> Dear Harry,
>>
>> >  Was the existence of  Śaṅkarācārya and/or his writings known in 10th
>> century Kashmir?
>> To my knowledge, Śaṅkara played no role in Kashmir at that time.
>> Maṇḍanamiśra was seen as the representative of Advaita Vedānta.
>> Significantly, the Mokṣopāya addresses and quotes Maṇḍana's theory of error
>> (*khyāti *[Vibhramaviveka]) in Mokṣopāya VI.325.1–10 (the current
>> volume), adopting "Vasiṣṭha's" inclusivistic approach by redefining the *ātmakhyāti
>> *of the Yogācāra school in his own terms. As so often, he tells a
>> parable to illustrate his point  (*śilopākhyāna*, VI.32511–40).
>>
>> Regards,
>> Walter
>>
>>
>> Am Do., 21. Aug. 2025 um 15:59 Uhr schrieb Harry Spier <
>> vasishtha.spier at gmail.com>:
>>
>> Dear Walter,
>>
>> My congratulations also on this impressive accomplishment.
>>
>> You wrote:
>>
>>
>> Contrary to a still-prevailing misconception, the 10th-century
>> *Mokṣopāya* from Kashmir has nothing at all to do with Śaṅkara's
>> Advaitavedānta  . . .
>>
>>
>> Was the existence of  Śaṅkarācārya and/or his writings known in 10th
>> century Kashmir?
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Harry Spier
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>>
>
>
>
> * <https://ashokauniversity.academia.edu/AlexWatson>*
>
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