Tattvopaplavasiṁha of Jayarāśi Bhaṭṭa Sanskrit and English
translated by Jha V N
- 1st ed.
- Ernakulam Chinmaya Internationala Foundation Shodha Sansthan 2013
- 477
- Chinmaya Research Series 6 .
The text is often regarded as belonging to the Carvaka school, which would make it the only extant authentic text from that school. The Tattvopaplavasimha examines epistemology, where he considers the pramana (sources of knowledge) accepted in establishing conclusions (perception, inference, and testimony), and proves that none of them are sufficient for establishing knowledge. Inference relies on inductive reasoning which cannot be shown to be universal premises. Testimony requires the reliability of the witness, which must be established by another of the pramana. Even direct perception cannot establish truth, because it requires that the perception not be erroneous or illusory, which also cannot be established. Therefore, Jayarasi argues that none of the sources of knowledge are valid, and nothing can be known for certain. Jayarasi challenged the astika establishment's belief in supernatural beings by attacking their epistemology with different arguments in Vaitandika style. Jayarasi has elaborated the different technical terminologies of philosophy used by the philosophers of that period while he establishes his own doctrines. Prof. V. N. Jha, a renowned scholar of Nyaya, Mimamsa and Vyakarana has translated it in to English on the basis of Baudhabharati, Varanasi edition, 1987 by Pt. Sukhlalji Sanghavi and Rasiklal Parikhji. It has been translated keeping silence in the place of broken Sanskrit texts in several places. This book consists of an introduction detailed analysis edition and English translation with extensive notes of the complete text and indices of all technical words used in the text.