The Dialectical Method Of Nagarjuna Vigrahavyavartani

Though only a minor work in form, as regards its contents the Vigrahavyavartam well as of the early Indian dialectical tradition. Not only does it admirably illustrate the dialectical method followed by Nagarjuna, the founder of the school, but it is also clarifies the idea of Voidness (Sunyata) which has been so often misunderstood, not only in modern times and abroad, but in India itself and in Nagarjuna's own time.

Written after Nagarjuna's major work, the Madhyamakakarikas, the Vigrahavyavartani is undoubtedly one of his best works and shows him in all that is peculiar of him, above all in his imperturbable consistency', as E. Frauwallner said.

Long lost in India, this text was fortunately discovered by Rahula Sankrtyayana in a Tibetan monastery. The book includes the text both in Devanagari and Roman scripts edited by E.H. Johnston and Arnold Kunst along with an English translation which follows the text closely and as literally as possible, and Notes that clarify its technicalities.

About the Author

KAMALESWAR BHATTACHARYA, Doctor es Letters (Paris), has taught at the University of Paris, at Brown University (USA), at the University of Toronto (Canada), and at the Visva-Bharati University (Santiniketan). His publications include Les Religions brahmaniques dans Pancien Cambodge, Recherches sur le vocabulcire des inscriptions sanskrites du Cambodge, L'Atman-Brahman dans le Bouddhisme ancien, and Le Siddhantalaksanaprakarana du Tattvachintamani de Gangesa avec la Didhiti de Raghamatha Siromani et Tika de Jagadisa Tarkalankara.

It is gratifying that a second edition of this annotated translation of the Vigrahavyavartani is so soon called for.

The Introduction has been slightly developed, some minor changes have been made in the translation, some new elements have been introduced in the Notes and in the Bibliography, and the Sanskrit text and translation have been re-arranged.

An English translation of the Vigrahavyavartani with Introduction and Notes was published, under the same title, in the Journal of Indian Philosophy (Dordrecht, Holland), Vol. 1, 1971. Since then, this work has undergone a good deal of transformation. Thanks to the initiative taken by Messrs. Motilal Banarsidass, it is now being printed, revised and enlarged, along with the Sanskrit original, edited by E. H. Johnston and Arnold Kunst.

My heartiest thanks are due to my friend E. Gene Smith, not only for revising the proofs and making valuable suggestions but also for his warm hospitality in Delhi while this book was being printed.