Date of Annaṃbhaṭṭa

Annaṃbhaṭṭa is the author of Tarkasaṃgraha. No definite information about the date of Annaṃbhaṭṭa is found. He has not mentioned any previous writer or work which can enable us to ascertain his accurate date. R.B. Godbole gives some information without source about Annaṃbhaṭṭa in his Dictionary of Modern History of India. According to him Annaṃbhaṭṭa lived in the 15^th century A.D.^[1] Virupakshananda mentions, Annaṃbhaṭṭa’s date was 1600 A.D.^[2]

Dḥuṇḍhirāja Śāstrī also accepts this date.^[3] But they do not give any source, only mention the date. From the writings of Annaṃbhaṭṭa it appears that he was later than both Gadādhara and Viśvanātha.^[4] In Annaṃbhaṭṭa’s work the influence of Gadādhara and Raghunātha cam be perceived.^[5] Moreover, Annaṃbhaṭṭa taught his pupils the works Tarkasaṃgraha, Tarkadīpikā, Siddhānta-Muktāvalī and Gādadharī which are written by these writers. Tarkasaṃgraha and Tarkadīpikā are known as Bālagadādharī.^[6] From this it may be assumed that the influence of Gadādhara was in the Tarkasaṃgraha. Gadādhara most probably lived in the later part of the 16^th century A.D. Viśvanātha’s date is 1634 A.D. Therefore, he could not flourish before the beginning of the 17^th century A.D.^[7]

Further, Raghunatha Śiromaṇi was the author of Dīdhiti. His date was about the end of the 16^th century or the beginning of the 17^th century A.D.^[8] Annaṃbhaṭṭa has quoted some sentences directly from Dīdhiti in the Dīpikā.^[9] Hence, Annaṃbhaṭṭa must be later than him. Thus, Annaṃbhaṭṭa flourished in the 17^th century A.D.

S. Kuppuswāmi Śāstri has mentioned the date of Annaṃbhaṭṭa as the later part of the seventeenth century A.D.^[10] S.C. Vidyabhusana also supports this view and has stated that he has not flourished before the 17^th century A.D.^[11] He also mentions in A History of Indian Logic that one manuscript of the Tarkasaṃgraha gives the date 1724 A.D. It is found in the Weber’s Berlin Catalogue, No. 683.^[12] Stein, mentions about a manuscript of Tarkasaṃgraha the date of which is 1740 A.D. Another manuscript of Tarkadīpikā, the date of which 1735 A.D. is found.^[13] We find in the Dīpikā a reference of a king named Tribhuvanatilaka.^[14] However, no conclusive evidence about this king can be gathered. Vidyabhusana only mentions that he was a Pallava chief of Kāñcī.^[15] However, from our earlier discussions it can be said that Annaṃbhaṭṭa flourished in 17^th century A.D.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Quoted in Athalye and Bodas, (ed.), Tarkasaṃgraha,, p. Lx.

[2]:

Swami Virupakshananda,(ed.), Tarkasaṃgraha, p. 7

[3]:

Śāstrī, Dḥuṇḍhirāja, (ed.), Tarkasaṃgraha, p. Bhūmikā

[4]:

Vide, Athalye and Bodas, (ed.), Tarkasaṃgraha,, p. Lx.

[5]:

cf. Bhaṭṭacharya, Chandrodaya, The Elements of Indian Logic and Epistemology, p. iii

[6]:

Gajendragadkar, A. B. and Karmakar, R.D., Tarkasaṃgraha, p. ii

[7]:

Ibid., ed., p. Lxii

[8]:

Ibid, p. Liii

[9]:

Vide, Ibid., p.Lxi

[10]:

Kuppuswami, S., A Primer of Indian Logic, p.Xli

[11]:

Vidyabhusana, Satish Chandra, A History of Indian Logic, p.388

[12]:

Ibid.

[13]:

Vide, Athalye and Bodas, (ed), Tarkasaṃgraha, p. Lxiii

[14]:

kāncyāṃ tribhuvanatilako bhūpatirityādau siddhe. Dīpikā, Ibid., pp. 50, 51

[15]:

cf. Vidyabhusana, Satish Chandra, A History of Indian Logic, p 388