India’s past, philology, and classical ALEX WATSON

TO acquaint ourselves with what may (i.e. by reading it) and by hearing. have happened in South Asia in the Indeed many of India’s oldest texts deep past, we rely primarily on things were composed without any recourse that happen to have survived from to writing and were preserved for that time, such as texts, archeological many centuries not by manuscripts, remains, monuments and other kinds but by oral-transmission. of artefact. To investigate specifically It was probably from the last what South Asians thought, as opposed few centuries BCE that manuscripts to what they did, it is the texts that are (in Sanskrit and Prakrit) began to be of supreme importance. Indeed inso- written and copied in India. While far as thoughts are constituted entirely many texts survive from earlier than out of concepts derived from language that period, no manuscripts survive – a position taken by some but not all from as far back as that. The texts that of India’s1 pre-modern philosophers – have come down to us from Classical the literary compositions preserved in India typically exist only in copies of manuscripts and inscriptions afford us copies of copies of copies… Since the possibility of entering into the minds scribes are human, copying mistakes of thinkers removed from us by many enter the transmission at every stage. centuries. Thus when I mentioned above texts, The distinction between ‘texts’ archeological remains, monuments and ‘manuscripts’ should be clear. and other artefacts that have survived Kalidasa’s Meghaduta (‘Cloud from the past, I was eliding an impor- Messenger’), say, is one text. It is pre- tance difference between the first of served in a number of manuscripts. those and the rest. An artefact, a statue A manuscript is a physical object; say, that survives today is the same a text is a literary composition.2 The statue that was produced previously. fact that a text consists not of matter A text that survives today, by contrast, but of language means that whereas a will have gone through numerous small manuscript can be observed by sight changes each time its manuscripts are and touch (and, I suppose, smell and copied. taste!), a text can be observed by sight Some of these may be deliberate modifications on the part of a scribe. 1. In this article I use ‘India’ and ‘Indian’ as But many will be inadvertent. If so, they synonymous with ‘South Asia’ and ‘South may result in a nonsensical, ungram- Asian’. 30 matical sentence. Or they may result 2. I am here, for simplicity’s sake, reducing a threefold distinction between works, texts in a corruption that is harder to spot, one and manuscripts into a twofold one. that contains no syntactical flaw. Thus

SEMINAR 671 – July 2015 to be a pukka Sanskrit philologist, essary. But I do oppose those who which simply means someone capable There are two ways in which the field see text critical work as dispensable. of accurately understanding texts can be advanced: by the provision of A knock-down argument here is the written in Sanskrit, one must also be a new data, and by the construction of enormous extent of unpublished San- text critic, that is to say someone new analyses of previously available skrit literature. How many Sanskrit capable of identifying these many cor- data. The ‘providers’ are the philolo- manuscripts exist? We do not know the ruptions and presenting hypotheses gists, working with manuscripts and answer, but a recent educated guess about what the author actually wrote. producing, based on those, printed edi- places them at thirty million.3 The This is time-consuming and labour- tions and translations. The ‘construc- number of surviving Greek manu- intensive work, ideally involving as tors’ are theorists or historians of social scripts, for the sake of comparison, it does the collation of all available and political formations, of science, of is about thirty thousand. It is only a manuscripts of a text. But once one philosophy, of religion, of literature. minute fraction of surviving Sanskrit has become aware of the huge number The providers work at the cutting edge texts that have been published, let of corruptions existing in the manu- of the mine or the quarry, as it were, alone studied in detail. This alone scripts – and printed editions based on chipping away to extract gems and points to the desirability of having those manuscripts – of every surviv- marble. The constructors use these to an army of philologists engaged in the ing classical Sanskrit text, it is work create edifices of relevance to their production of critical editions, even if that comes to seem indispensable. own sub-field. Presented like this, it they are not simultaneously engaged looks like we have a division of labour, in work of interest to those who do not rather than a battle. But it is both, for know Sanskrit. I am making this point because many the constructors frequently accuse the assume that a printed edition of a San- providers of being unable to think crea- skrit text can unproblematically be tively, unaware of the wider picture, My own approach has been to start assumed to be the words of its author. and obsessed with inconsequential by taking a not previously translated Those who proceed on this assump- minutiae. University positions, they text, or a part of a text,4 to collect tion erect an edifice of ‘knowledge’ argue, should not be given to those manuscripts, prepare an edition that on shaky foundations. The eureka scholars but rather to people who improves upon the editions published moment that consists in diagnosing actually ‘do something’ with the mate- so far, and prepare a heavily annotated and removing a corruption takes one rial. And the providers often accuse translation. I regard that as a neces- closer to the thoughts of an author. It the constructors of being insuffi- sary precursor to further analysis. is comparable to the fine-tuning of a ciently familiar with primary sources, Indeed for three of the texts I have radio dial such that extraneous noise cavalier in their use of them, and more 3. See Dominik Wujastyk, ‘Indian Manu- and distortion reduce, allowing a voice concerned with the sensational than scripts’, in Jörg Quenzer and Jan-Ulrich to come across with more clarity and the true. Sobisch (eds.), Manuscript Cultures: Mapping less interference. To read over corrup- An American philosopher (Rich- the Field. 2014. 4. The Nareshvaraparikshaprakasha (a tions without being aware that they are ard Heck) tells his students that there commentary on ‘An Examination of the corruptions results in at best fuzzy and are essentially two ways one can chal- Soul and God’ by Sadyojyotis), the Matan- at worst incoherent thoughts being lenge others’ claims: by asking either gavrtti (a commentary on the Agama known wrongly attributed to the author. ‘oh yeah?’ or ‘so what?’, the first doubt- as ‘The Elephant’), and the Paramoksha- nirasakarikavrtti (a commentary on ‘The The other reason for my dwell- ing accuracy and the second doubting verses that Refute the Conceptions of Libe- ing on this point is to introduce readers relevance. The providers throw the ‘oh ration Advanced by Other Schools’ by to one of the ideological divides in the yeah?’ question at the constructors and Sadyojyotis), all three composed in by Bhatta Ramakantha, a 10th century adept field of Sanskrit studies. There are the latter throw the ‘so what?’ question in the tradition of ; the those who affirm the indispensability of at the providers. I am not sure of the Nyayamanjari (‘Flower-Garland of Logic’), this text critical work (the creation of extent to which this infighting harms composed in Kashmir by Jayanta Bhatta, a 9th century philosopher in the tradition of new, improved editions based on the or helps the discipline. It may be that ; and the Haracaritacintamani (‘The collation and comparison of manu- it provides a helpful curbing of the Wish-Fulfilling Jewel that Tells of the Exploits scripts and parallel passages); and there excesses of both sides. of ’), composed in Kashmir in the 13th are those who see it as actually holding I do not feel the need to come century by Jayadratha, a Shiva bhakta. The 31 articles and large parts of the books are avail- back progress by being overly preoc- down on one side to the exclusion of able here: http://harvard.academia.edu/ cupied with small issues of wording. the other, given that I see both as nec- AlexWatson

SEMINAR 671 – July 2015 worked on – the Nareshvara- contrast, are actually doing philosophy. order to become aware of the limits parikshaprakasha, Matangavrtti That is one of the differences between of their current methodologies and and Paramokshanirasakarikavrtti the history of philosophy and ‘the preoccupations. To look to past phi- (see footnote 3) – it was simply not history of ideas’ or ‘intellectual his- losophies for inspiration is not, or possible to accurately apprehend the tory’, these latter two being branches certainly need not be, conservative. author’s thoughts on the basis of the of history.5 It rather affords the radical possibility existing editions, so full were they of of challenging the narrow horizons corruptions. For a fourth, the Nyaya- of the discipline as it is conducted manjari, an edition exists that is not There are two reasons for this differ- today. bad. But even here, if one takes the ence between, on the one hand, the While this assertion of the rele- time to consult two manuscripts history of philosophy and, on the other vance and value of the history of phi- neglected by the editors – one written hand, the history of science or the losophy has required some defence, to on birch bark in Sharada script, and one history of ideas. One is the level of combat those who over-generalize on palm leaf in Malayalam script – immersion in, engagement with, and notions of progress from the natural then improvements can be made that evaluation of the ideas that character- sciences and technology, surely the result in previously inaccessible izes the history of philosophy. They relevance and value of studying the nuances of thought coming across. are treated philosophically, not as his- belletristic literature of the past But if my research were to end torical curiosities to be assigned to an requires no such defence. The fact with this philological groundwork, it intellectual museum, or epipheno- that a novel has been written in our would hardly motivate me to rise from mena to be set in their socio-economic own time does not mean that it will bed in the morning. While that atten- context. The other is that while there move us more, or teach us more about tion to linguistic detail brings a certain is evolution and some progress in phi- human nature, than a work written by satisfaction, the exciting part is what losophy, past philosophies are not Kalidasa. it enables: a further examination of and rendered redundant by subsequent engagement with the philosophical ones. Some assertions put forward by ideas. In this second stage I approach philosophers in the past may have Much of my own work in the His- the material not merely as a passive turned out to be empirically falsified. tory of Indian Philosophy is concerned observer, but as a fellow participant in But in that case they were not philo- with a complex of enduring philoso- the debate in question. sophical assertions but empirical ones. phical problems, those that surround During the last century there ‘personal identity’.6 What, if anything, was a shift among metaphysicians is the of a sentient being? Much of my energy for the study of away from towards realism How long does an individual being Indian philosophical texts derives from (and among philosophers of mind last? Am I numerically the same thing a sense of their as yet untapped poten- from dualism towards physicalism). as I was just after I was born (even if tial for enriching contemporary phi- But that was not because idealism (or I no longer contain any cells that I losophy. It may seem strange to some dualism) was refuted. The spotlight that ideas from the distant past could shifted towards this new terrain be- 6. The Self’s Awareness of Itself. Bhatta be enlightening today. Are not such cause of a growing awareness of dif- Ramakantha’s Arguments Against the Bud- ideas ‘of merely historical interest’? ferent, neglected territory waiting to dhist Doctrine of No-Self. Vienna, 2006. ‘Ramakantha’s Concept of Unchanging Cog- The history of physics, for example, be explored. But an exclusive focus nition (nityajnana): Influence from , holds no claim on a physicist. A physi- on this new territory leads to the older and ’, in J. Bronkhorst cist may well be interested in the his- approaches and paradigms remaining and K. Preisendanz (eds.), From to Caitanya. Studies in Indian Philosophy tory of their discipline (perhaps to in the dark and their potential insights and Its Textual History. Papers of the 12th remind them of how physics got to being unavailable. Thus philosophers World Sanskrit Conference, 2010a, Volume where it is today, or to show them would do well to remind themselves 10.1, pp. 79-120. ‘Bhatta Ramakantha’s Elaboration of Self-Awareness (svasamve- where past physicists went wrong); of the history of their discipline in dana), and How it Differs from ’s but if they are not, they are not losing Exposition of the Concept’, Journal of Indian an opportunity to improve their phys- 5. See Bernard Williams, Descartes: The Philosophy 38(3), 2010b, pp. 297-321. ‘The 32 ics. The history of physics is prima- Project of Pure Enquiry, 1978, p. 9; and the Self as a Dynamic Constant; Ramakantha’s concluding chapter of Adrian Moore, The Middle Ground Between a Naiyayika Eter- rily history, not physics. Those who Evolution of Modern Metaphysics; Making nal Self-Substance and a Buddhist Stream of engage in the history of philosophy, by Sense of Things, 2011. Consciousness-Moments’, Journal of Indian

SEMINAR 671 – July 2015 did then)? What are the criteria for deserves – neither inside ‘the academy’ individuation of people? Is a human nor among the politicians or general being a thing or a process? Is it inco- public who make essentialist pro- herent to claim that one and the same nouncements about ‘the Hindu tradi- individual could continue to exist after tion’ or ‘the Sanskrit tradition’. As the death of its body? On the one hand knowledge of this Sanskrit tradition were various Buddhist views claiming of philosophical debate between that we have no self, no essence, that the various schools becomes more we are changing – not only qualita- widespread, these one-sided charac- tively but also numerically – in every terizations will become untenable – single moment, that we are a process invalidated by the spectacle of a far rather than a thing. These views greater diversity that was contained attained a new level of sophistica- within, and celebrated by, these schools. tion with Dignaga (ca. 470-530) and Dharmakirti (6th or 7th century). On the other hand were various thinkers Contemporary Euro-American philo- belonging to the text-traditions of sophers tend to address the issues of Nyaya (e.g. Vatsyayana, Uddyotakara, selfhood enumerated above in igno- Bhasarvajna, Jayanta Bhatta), Vaishe- rance of the fact that sophisticated shika (e.g. , Shridhara, South Asian intellectuals have been Vyomashiva) and Sankhya who reflecting on them for many hundreds claimed that we have an eternally of years longer than western thinkers; unchanging self. In the middle ground many of the issues that arose in Europe between these extremes we find the in the period between Descartes and Mimamsa view of Kumarila (an older Kant had already been debated in contemporary of Dharmakirti’s) and India for the previous thousand years the views of various Jain philosophers. – in ways that overlap, but differ in Then there were others who came unexpected and revealing ways, for up with views different from all of example by making use of different the above: Advaita Vedantins such as distinctions. There is a growing aware- Shankara and Mandanamishra, Vaish- ness within the discipline of Philoso- nava Vedantins such as Yamunacarya, phy of its parochialism and need to , Madhva, and internationalize. Some who have been Vyasatirtha, Non-Dualistic Shaivas trained exclusively in western philo- such as Utpaladeva and Abhinava- sophy are looking to, and drawing on, gupta, Dualistic Shaivas such as the Indian material. Once more schol- Narayanakantha and Ramakantha. ars emerge who are trained to access and make analytical use of both the South Asian and the western material, The coexistence within the Indian the encounter between the two tradi- tradition of rational debate of so many tions is sure to yield new perspectives opposed groups is in itself remarkable on a variety of problems. and has not yet received the attention it It is my hope – and there are some signs that it is not an unrealistic Philosophy 42(1), 2014, pp. 173-193. And see one – that Indian philosophy will forthcoming articles in Purushottama Bilimoria (ed.), Routledge History of Indian soon begin a similar trajectory to that Philosophy, Routledge, London; and in Joerg taken by Greek philosophy in the Tuske (ed.), The Bloomsbury Research Hand- middle of the twentieth century, when book to Indian Epistemology and Metaphys- ics, Bloomsbury, London. it moved from being restricted to 33 7. Personal communication, Jonardon Ganeri, Classics syllabi to becoming a manda- 6 November 2013. tory part of every philosophy degree.7

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