Sanskrit Manuscripts : Nyāyasudhā

Someśvara Bhaṭṭa

Sanskrit Manuscripts

<p style='text-align: justify;'>This is a manuscript of the <i>Nyāyasudhā</i> (sometimes named <i>Rāṇaka</i>), one of the most important commentaries on Kumārila Bhaṭṭa’s <i>Tantravārttika</i>. The author, Someśvara Bhaṭṭa, son of Mādhava Bhaṭṭa, might have lived in the 12th century (Mishra 1964: 42, Verpoorten 1987: 38). The manuscript covers the whole of the second chapter (<i>pāda</i>) of the third book (<i>adhyāya</i>) of the <i>Mīmāṃsāsūtra</i>s, dealing with the various means of "assignment" (<i>viniyoga</i>) of subordinate elements in a sacrifice, in particular with the assignment of <i>mantra</i>s with the help of "word-meaning" (<i>liṅga</i>). Important parts of the text are missing, especially towards the end of the manuscript, which looks globally inaccurate. No indication on the scribe is available. This manuscript was most probably part of a collection, together with <a target='_blank' class='externalLink' href='http://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-ADD-01709/1'>Add.1709</a>, <a target='_blank' class='externalLink' href='http://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-ADD-01710/1'>Add.1710</a> and <a target='_blank' class='externalLink' href='http://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-ADD-01711/1'>Add.1711</a>, as they share many common features: paper and layout are identical, and on the first folio of the present manuscript a catch number (13) is written. </p>