Sanskrit Manuscripts : Kāśikā

Sucarita Miśra

Sanskrit Manuscripts

<p style='text-align: justify;'> A South Indian manuscript of the <i>Kāśikā</i> by Sucarita Miśra, one of the most valuable commentaries on Kumārila Bhaṭṭa’s <i>Ślokavārttika</i>. Although Sucarita is often believed to have lived in the 12th century (Mishra 1964: 34; Verpoorten 1987: 38), his mention as the “author of the <i>Kāśikā</i>” (<i>kāśikākāra</i>) by the Buddhist philosophers Jñānaśrīmitra and Ratnakīrti (both active in the first half of the 11th century) rather suggests an earlier date, perhaps in the 10th century (thanks to Kei Kataoka for this information). The portion of the text covered by the manuscript (ad <i>Mīmāṃsāsūtra</i> 1.1.1-1.1.3) has been published only once by K. Sāmbaśiva Śāstrī (Trivandrum, 1926), who himself acknowledges in his preface the slender and defective manuscript basis on which his edition was prepared (four manuscripts from Kerala, all incomplete and much decayed). It is uncertain whether the present manuscript originally contained other portions of Sucarita's commentary as well. </p>