Manameyodaya by Narayana Bhatta and Narayana Pandita (An Elementary Treatise on the Mimamsa)

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The Manameyodaya conducts a clear and lucid inquiry into various aspects of the six means of valid knowledge (mana) and the five objects knowledge (meya)as they are recognized by the Bhatta school of Mimamsa. It gives clearly the views of the Prabhakara school at every point and refutes them. It also cites and criticizes the connected views of othe systems of philosophy, such as Nyaya, Vaisesika, Advaita and Samkhya. In 1933, C. Kunhan Raja and S.S. Suryanarayana Sastri brought out a critical edition of this work with an English translation. The third edition is now being published.

It is a source of great pleasure to me to write a foreword to his publication in compliance with the request of its editors Dr. C. Kunhan Raja M.A., D.Phil who happens to be my present friend and colleague and former pupil and Mr. S.S. Suryanarayana Sastri head of the Department of philosophy in the University of Madras.

This is a revised edition of the Sanskrit philosophical treatise called Manameyodaya which was first published in 1912 as No.19 of the Trivandrum Sanskrit Series. Dr. C. Kunhan Raja and S.S. Suryanarayana Sastri are responsible for this revised edition and include in it the Sanskrit text and their English translation. The Sanskrit text given in this edition is far more reliable and accurate than the text given in the first edition. In bringing out the present revised edition the editors have used an additional manuscript which was not used in the first edition and which is deposited in the government Oriental Manuscripts Library Madras (D.C.S No 15297). A comparison of this edition will disclose noteworthy improvements variations and additions. In this connection section 13 page 7 and section 147 page 233 in the present revised edition may be compared with the corresponding portions in the first edition. The English translation is faithful and accurate and brings the contents of this importal philosophical text within the easy reach of the students of modern universities who are mostly using the English language as their medium of thought and expression in their academical and public life. The detailed table of contents and the comparative list of doctrinal differences prefixed to this edition greatly enhance its value.

The Sanskrit text published in this volume is a valuable philosophical manual of the Bhatta school and as its significant title Manameyodaya shows it represents an authoritative and informative elucidation (udaya) of the recognized means of valid knowledge (mana) and the categories (meya) constituting the objective content of valid knowledge in accordance with Kumarila Bhatta’s school known as the Bhatta School. The first part of this book deals with the pramana-s and was written by the famous Narayana Bhatta of Malabar who flourished in the latter half of the 16th century. The second part was produced by a later scholar who was also called Narayana Pandita. Narayana Bhatta the author of the first half was one of the greatest scholar poets of Kerala in the 16th century. He is the famous author of he Narayaniya and the Prakriya sarvasva. His versatility profound scholarship saintly character and great poetic talents are justly praised in the following terms at the beginning of the Bhaktapriya a commentary on the Narayaniya.

The second part of this work is an appropriate complement to the first part and rises to an almost equally high level.

Within a brief compass in a style which is at once lucid and terse this work gives an able and well grounded exposition of the leading tenets of the philosophical side of the Bhatta school and adds comparative and critical remarks where required with particular reference to the corresponding thought chiefly the Prabhakara Nyaya Advaita and Bauddha Systems. I am sure that in the from in which the text is presented in this edition and with the reliable English translation which is given here this work will be of great value as an efficient aid to the study of Indian Philosophy in general and more especially to the appreciation of the distinctive features of the Bhatta phase of realism in Indian philosophical thought. I congratulate Dr. C. Kunhan Raja and S. S. Suryanaryana Sastri on this substantial piece of work in the sphere of Indian philosophy.

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