Paramokṣanirāsakārikāvṛtti

This book presents a short philosophical treatise in which twenty rival theories of the liberated state (mokṣa) are introduced and countered, and a long, discursive commentary that explores and develops the arguments that the treatise advances or implies. The original treatise comprises fifty-nine Sanskrit verses composed by Sadyojyotiḥ (c. 675–725 AD), the earliest named Śaiva philosopher of the Mantramārga of whom works survive. The commentator, Bhaṭṭa Rāmakaṇṭha (c. 950–1000 AD), was a Kashmirian whose writings systematised the doctrines of the classical Śaiva Siddhānta, for some centuries the dominant school of tantric Śaivism. Presented here is a first critical edition of these interlinked works and a richly annotated English translation. A lightly annotated introduction lays out clearly the ideas that the edited texts expound. Their study casts light not only on the history of Śaiva thought, but also on a number of religio-philosophical doctrines for which little other testimony survives.

Front matter & contents (PDF)