Bhaskarakanthas Cittanubodhasastra Critical Edition of the First Three Chapterstogether with the Author's Commentary

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Jürgen Hanneder
• Subject Area: Asian Studies
• Term: from 2014 to 2016
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 242479986

The Kashmirian author Bhaskarakantha, who flourished in the late 17th century is known to researchers as the commentator of one of Abhinavaguptas main works. Since the 90s large fragments of his voluminous commentary on the Moksopaya have been published, in which the author interprets the peculiar philosophical tenets of this idiosyncratic text according to his family tradition. Furthermore, he is credited with a translation into Sanskrit of the old Kashmiri sayings of the mystic saint Lalla. To elevate her work into the realm of Sanskrit culture was surely not done by the late Mogul writer without a view to his peculiar historical situation.Only a single independent work of Bhaskara is known: the "manual for the awakening of the mind" (Cittanubodhasastra), which has been edited from a single manuscript in 1990 and in which (Saje 1993) the author propounds his innovative philosophical ideas. The editio princeps, however, frequently gives a text that is erroneous or incomprehensible. With new materials, manuscripts of the text itself and of Bhaskara's auto-commentary, these problems can now be solved. The present project attempts a critical edition of the first three of fifteen chapters of the Cittanubodhasastra with the author's commentary in order to make this author of the early modern age accessible to the academic world.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants