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30 CHAPTER - II A NOTE ON TARKABHASA 1. INTRODUCTION The Tarkabhasa of Kesava Misra belongs to the syncretic School of NyayaVaisesika philosophy. The fountain source of this book is the sutras ascribed to Gautama alias Aksapada which is one of the most approved elementary treatises. The author of Tarkabhasa indicates the scope and purpose of his work before going to the contents, to fulfill the custom of Sanskrit writers. He explains the four parts collectively known as 'anubandhacatustaya', (i) visaya (the subjectmatter or scope of the book), (ii) prayojana (the purpose), (iii) adhikarana (the proper person for whom the book is intended) and (iv) sambandha (relation). Because, after knowing visaya, sambandha etc. a person gets interest in the subject-matter and then he proceeds to study or to listen a book. Therefore, it is necessary to mention the 'anubandhacatustaya' at the very beginning of a book¹. Kesava Misra, in his benedictory verse explains his purpose of writing Tarkabhasa - 'an exposition of reasoning'. This book is written for the sake of a person who has no energy to study the most difficult and extensive works for acquiring knowledge of Nyayasastra. The word 'Bala²² (young boys) in the 1. siddhartha siddhasambandham srotum srota pravartate/ 2. sastradau tena vaktavyah sambandhah saprayojanah// Slokavartika 1.17. Tarkabhasa of Sri Kesava Misra p.117.

31 verse has not related to the age of a person, but it refers to the ignorance of a person. Those, who are inexperienced in the science of logic is considered here as 'Bala". The book is written for those who do not know the sixteen categories of Nyayasutra or who have no ability to study the most difficult and extensive works like Nyayasutra and Vaisesikasutra, but interested to know them. According to Kesava Misra the Tarkabhasa is an elementary treatise and can be understood even by the ignorant persons through little effort. By going through this text one can acquire the knowledge of the sixteen categories of Gautama. Many commentaries are available on this text. These commentaries make its scope wide. After mentioning the scope and aim of his work, Kesava Misra enters the subject by quoting the first sutra of Gautama's Nyayasutra. Tarkabhasa is a Nyayaprakarana which elaborately explains the sixteen categories of Gautama and briefly the Vaisesika categories of Kanada. Prakarana means introductory manual which is quite useful. The literature on the Vaisheshika-sutra and Nyayasutra had become so vast by about the 10th century that it was practically impossible for an ordinary student to have enough knowledge of logic within a short time for the pursuit of his studies in other branches. Teachers in various seminaries must have realized this situation and to overcome it have summarised the principles of the two systems in simpler language avoiding discussions about rival schools. These summaries came to be known as prakaranas. These may be classified under the following three heads: 3 3. Tarkabhasa Intro. p.32

32 i) Vaisesika Prakaranas - Vaisesika prakaranas deal with exclusively of the six (or seven) categories of Kanada and the two sources of valid knowledge, prastyaksa and anumana. For example, Saptapadarthi of Sivaditya and Nyayalilavati of Vallabhacarya. Both were written sometime about 1150 A.D.4 Sivaditya's work must have been popular for sometime as there are some half a dozen commentaries on it. The Nyayalilavati of Vallabhacarya can not be considered strictly a prakarana suitable for beginners; but is more an independent summery of the prasastapadabhasya, written in a forcible, argumentative and intricate style. ii) Tarkaprakaranas :- Tarkaprakaranas accept the seven categories of Vaisesika philosophy as their ground and begin with them but treat of the four pramanas more efficiently than other issues. The authors of these prakaranas belonged to the Navyanyaya School and so have merged the two systems in a more logical manner than in the other two kinds of prakaranas. For example - (a) Tarkamrta of Jagadisa, one of the greatest commentators on the Didhiti of Raghunatha Siromani, who lived between 1540-1600 A.D. The first part of the work discusses the seven categories of Kanada and the second part deals with the right knowledge which is derived through the four pramanas without going to the details and the Navyanyaya phraseology. This useful book did not get the popularity it deserves probably due to the two prakaranas described below taking the field within a short time of its appearance. 4. Ibid. p.33

33 (b) The Tarkasamgraha of Annambhatta is rightly the most widely read primer throughout India and has taken the place of all the previous manuals by its excellence. It is evidenced by the large number of commentaries - over fifty have been brought to light so far, which it has evoked It begins with the enumeration of the seven Vaisesika categories, elaborates the four pramanas under buddhi, a quality. It has written in a very simple flowing language avoiding all dialectics. The author belonged to Andhra parts, studied at Banaras and was a great polymath having written valuable commentaries in Vyakarana, Nyaya, Mimamsa and Vedanta. He has furnished a valuable commentary on his own text called Tarkasamgrahadipika and also commented on the Aloka of Jayadeva. He lived in the early part of the 17th century. (c) The Bhasaparicceda of Visvanatha consists of 168 small verses. This book is divided into four parts, pratyaksa, anumana, upamana and sabda. The first part deals with the seven categories of Vaisesika. The four pramahas are treated in detail under atman which is defined as the seat of knowledge etc. The author himself has furnished a very learned commentary on the verses called Siddhantamuktavali which is a popular introduction to the NavyaNyaya techniques. iii) Nyaya Prakaranas :- Nyaya Prakarana explains prominently the sixteen categories of Gautama and briefly mentions the seven categories of Vaisesika under prameya section. For example, we can mention Nyayasara written by Bhasarvajna, Tarkikaraksa by Varadaraja and Tarkabhasa of Kesava Misra. The Nyayasara deals with only three pramanas omitting

34 upamana, mentions anadhyavasita as the sixth hetvabhasa and makes no mention of the Vaisesika categories as such. The author was a Kasmirian and lived about the early half of the 10th century. He has written a voluminous commentary on it called Nyayabhusana which was discovered only recently and published from Banaras in 1969. It is a highly polemical work is quoted profusely by later writers, both Hindus and Buddhists, and earned for the author the name Bhusanakara by which he is more popularly known. (b) Varadaraja was a native of Andhra parts and he supposed to have lived about the beginning of the 12th century. His Tarkikaraksa is in three chapters written in small verses followed by the author's own commentary. The first chapter deals with fourteen out of the sixteen categories of Gautama and the seven Vaisesika categories are treated under prameya but separately from the twelve of the Nyayasutra The second and third chapters are devoted to the explanation of the 15th (jati) and 16th (nigrahasthana) categories respectively. (c) The Tarkabhasa, a Nyayaprakarana expounded the arguments on which the science of logic is based The sixteen categories, pramana, prameya etc. are discussed here and 6 that is why it is called Tarkabhasa. We find nowhere any detailed discussions on points of difference with other systems. The writer only discusses briefly the view points of the Buddhists and Mimamsakas on important topics just to show the logicians dialectical methods. These 5. tarkah nyayasastrayuktayah bhasyante pratipadyante asminniti 'tarkabhasa'. Tarkabhasa p.3 6. tarkyante pratipadyante iti tarkah pramanadayah sodasa padarthaste bhasyante 'naya iti tarkabhasa. Hindi Tarkabhasa p.3

35 digressions give relief to the otherwise monotonous nature of the narrative. The author starts with the first sutra of Gautama enumerating the categories, viz. pramana, prameya, samsaya, prayojana, drstanta, siddhanta, avayava, tarka, nirnaya, vada, jalpa, vitanda, hetvabhasa, chala, jati, nigrahasthana. The book is mainly divided into two parts Purvabhaga and Uttarabhaga. The exposition of the four pramanas is spread over half the book i.e Purvabhaga; and that of the second category prameya covers the major portion of the Uttarabhaga. The other fourteen categories are just mentioned very briefly. In order to include the Vaisesika categories into Nyaya, Kesava Misra explains artha as indicating dravya, guna, karma, samanya, visesa and samavaya. 7 Besides, two other TBs are found carrying Bauddha and Jaina principles. Moksakara Gupta was the writer of Bauddha Tarkabhasa, who flourished at about 1100 A.D. Here, the logical conclusions of Bauddha are discussed The Jaina Tarkabhasa was written by the Jaina Scholar Sri Yasovijaya. He flourished in 1688 A.D. The logical conclusions of Jaina system of thought is discussed in this book. The Tarkabhasa of Moksakara Gupta is the earliest among these three.