Semantics in Classical Indian Philosophy

The Nyayamanjari was composed in Kashmir, in the latter part of the ninth century, by Jayanta Bhatta. The twelve books of the Nyayamanjari form an authoritative and encyclopaedic representation of the theses concerning ontological, epistemological and linguistic issues developed in the classical period of Indian philosophy and presented from the viewpoint of the Nyaya philosophical tradition. The Nyayamanjari is widely used by historians of Indian philosophy for the assessment not only of Nyaya theories, but also of those belonging to other mainstream traditions, which are extensively discussed by Jayanta Bhatta. The work has indeed become a milestone in the historiography of Indian philosophy, not only because of the accuracy with which rival theories are presented in it, but also because its date is confirmed by both internal and external evidences, which helps to determine the relative chronology of other important works, preceding and following it. Seventeen manuscripts of the Nyayamanjari were located during the preparation of the project. They are written in different North and South Indian scripts and are preserved in a variety of locations from Kashmir to Kerala. Only two editions of the Nyayamanjari are based on manuscript sources, but their editors had access only to a limited numbers of manuscripts: the editio princeps was practically based on a single manuscript and a more reliable edition, published in 1983, on five. Besides this limitation, these two editions lack a detailed description of the manuscripts used and an analysis of their genealogical relation. They were also prepared without the help of the presently available technology, particularly digital photography, software for collating and editing, and cladistic software. A new critical edition will therefore significantly improve the knowledge of Jayanta Bhatta`s oeuvre on the basis of a comprehensive use of all sources, a detailed description of the manuscripts, a genealogical study of the textual transmission, and the consideration of indirect textual witnesses, eventually resulting in an enriched understanding of the work. The sixth chapter of the Nyayamanjari will be the focus of this project. In the larger context of the epistemological role of the Sanskrit language, this chapter discusses important theories relating to word-meaning and sentence- meaning, from the productive as well as receptive point of view. Though Jayanta belongs to the Nyaya tradition, he displays proficiency also in the two other disciplines involved in the discussion, Mimamsa (Vedic exegetics) and Vyakarana (Sanskrit grammatical science). The project will contribute to the historical knowledge of the pre- and post-Jayanta traditions of Nyaya, Mimamsa and Vyakarana, and will culminate in a fully documented critical edition of the sixth chapter. Its results will be useful to Sanskrit philologists, historians of Sanskrit and general linguistics, historians of Indian philosophy (particularly philosophy of language), specialists on Nyaya, Mimamsa and Vyakarana, and researchers interested in interdisciplinary studies. The resulting critical edition will also facilitate further studies and translations of the sixth chapter because of the clarification of difficult and obscure textual passages, and thus benefit today`s philosophical and linguistic discourses related to historically, geographically and linguistically distant ideas.