Perspektivism and intertextuality in Vidyanandin´s works

Philologically based research in the history of South Asian philosophy has long focused on the Brahmanic and Buddhist traditions. The philosophical literature of Jainism has rarely been examined with in-depth phi- lological methods. This lack of attention reflects the minor role Jainism plays in the concert of world religions today, but it is not in proportion to the significance that Jaina beliefs and practices had for the cultu- ral and intellectual history of South Asia. From the middle of the first millennium B.C.E. onwards, advocates of Jainism were engaged with the proponents of opposing traditions in a debate for religious supremacy, whereby the various contestants ab- sorbed the ideas and customs of one another. In the field of philosophy, this continuous exchange of concepts gained textually distinct features from the middle of the first millennium C.E., when Jaina authors began increasingly to use Sanskrit as their medium of expression. Terms and arguments that dominated the philosophical discourse were reconsidered in the context of the Jainas belief system and put down in Sanskrit works that, over the centuries, amassed into an enormous textual corpus. The proposed project will examine two particular characteristics of the discourse preserved in this body of works. Promotion of perspectivism: In the course of the debate with opposing traditions, Jaina scholars refined a pluralistic epistemological model and a discursive method that allowed for the subordination of conflicting philosophical tenets as insufficient views. The argumentation for this sort of perspectivism is Jainisms rational strategy for claiming superiority over other traditions. The proposed epistemological model is Jainisms genuine contribution to South Asian and global philosophy, well known through the names of Anekantavada and Syadvada. Philological research on the historical development of this model clarifies its presuppositions, advantages and limitations. Intertextual density: Jaina authors frequently composed their works by replicating argumentative patterns that had been previously used. Due to quotations, paraphrases and other forms of textual parallels, the individual works of Jaina philosophical literature are linked to each other and to other works of South Asian philosophy by a considerable amount of corresponding textual material. The identification and analysis of these intertextual elements provides researchers with valuable textual variations of central arguments, and enables hypotheses about their historical development as well as the chronological relation of the respective works. The proposed project will investigate these two points on the broad basis of ten philosophical Sanskrit works by Vidyanandin, an acclaimed 10th century author. It will thus also take the first necessary steps to cope with the vast extant oeuvre of a famous Jaina philosopher and will set the ground for future critical editions of some of his works.

The project was dedicated to the examination of a perspectivistic epistemological model in the Sanskrit works of the 10th-century Jaina author Vidynandin and to the examination of textual parallels which these works have among themselves and with other works of South Asian philosophical literature. The project had three components: (1) collection of information about the works and biographies of persons with the name "Vidynandin", (2) collection and examination of perspectivistic theorems in the acknowledged works of the 10th-century author and (3) collection and evaluation of intertextual elements in these works. The collected information was made publicly accessible within two online research facilities: The Biobibliography of Digambara Philosophers (www.dipal.org/bbdp) and the Digital Corpus of Vidynandin's Works (www.dipal.org/dcvw). Major results of the examination of this data include the hypothesis that the reception of the works under investigation took place in three phases, which can be roughly outlined with (I) the time of writing in the 10th century, (II) the time of an increasing veneration of the author in the 15th/16th century and (III) the beginning of the editing activity in the 20th century. The lively study of these works may have come to a standstill considerably early because available manuscript testimony preserves highly idiosyncratic textual variants of widespread Jaina scriptures without the trace of a comment. Research on Vidynandin's epistemological model confirmed the hypothesis, that this model is based not on an indiscriminate conflation of allegedly consonant perspectives but on the identification of erroneous standpoints and the confrontation of dissonant perspectives. In the course of the project, the evaluation of the intertextual elements focused on correspondences with Jaina Sanskrit and Prakrit literature. In the analysis of the textual dependencies it could be shown that beside the influence of Siddhasena Divkara, Samantabhadra and Akalaka Devanandin Pjyapda had a decisive impact on Vidynandin's selection of themes and argumentation strategies. It can be assumed that the importance of the tradition represented by Devanandin has been underestimated in the research on the history of Jaina philosophy and that the examination of the prefiguration of the classic Jaina doctrine by this tradition provides a promising research agenda for the future.