Anubandhacatuṣṭaya, i.e., the four points you need to discuss at the beginning of a treatise (its topic, the purpose, the audience and the connection) are sometimes read back into texts which lacked them (as it happens with the maṅgala read into Aṣṭ 1.1.1).
When do they start being explicitly discussed? And by which kind of authors? I know of Buddhists like Dharmottara (and Yāmari, thanks to Eli Franco) and Vedānta ones.
Within Mīmāṃsā, Kumārila at the beginning of the Ślokavārttika, pratijñā section, speaks of content (viṣaya), purpose (prayojana) and connection (sambandha). The absence of the ideal reader is no suprise, since before the end of the first millennium this is often the case.
Within Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta, Veṅkaṭanātha at the beginning of his Seśvaramīmāṃsā speaks of content, purpose, ideal reader and seemingly not of the connection, although he might be referring to it by speaking of a pravṛttiprakāra. Hence, the group of four was possibly not yet crystallised?
Sorry, Elisa, but I don’t have any new information but only two questions:
1) Do you know any Advaita Vedanta text prior to Sadananda’s Vedantasara in which Anubandhacatustaya is discussed?
2) Is Anubandhacatustaya already mentioned by Dharmottara (8th century bce)?
Thanks for your wonderful work.
Dear Javier,
1) Do you mean a text which explicitly speaks of anubandhacatuṣṭaya? Or one which just uses it? If the latter, the first three (i.e., all but adhikāra) are found in Padmapāda (8th c.) —as I came to know through an article by Anand Venkatkrishnan.
2) As above, Dharmottara (8th c. CE, not bCE!) uses the first three at the beginning of the commentary on the Nyāyabindu. Yet, adhikāra is not there, nor is the word anubandhacatuṣṭaya.
Thanks for your kind words!
(Sorry for keeping asking instead of replying) So, which is the first use you know of the 4 elements? And the first explicit mention of the word anubandhacatustaya or any sinonym? Thanks and best regards.
Dear Elisa,
Among the Sutras Brahmasutra is the oldest. In the sutra अथातो ब्रह्मजिज्ञासा Anubandhachatushtaya is told. In bhaamathi(भामती) commentary it is discussed.
As you surely know, the commentators discuss at length about what ataḥ means. After the study of the Veda? After that of Pūrva Mīmāṃsā? (So Rāmānuja) Once one has mumukṣā? (So Śaṅkara) …
In any case, the anubandhacatuṣṭaya is not explicit in BS 1.1.1.
AtaH is sadhana chatushtaya sampattu anantara as of Shankara bhashya. All the details I will message you
Do you think atha and all other words are not discussed. In Bhaashyaratnaprabha commentary you can see a word अनुबन्धजातम्, from there onwards he completely defines anubandha chatushtaya. Mumuksha is one part of sadhana chatushtaya. I am not aware of what Ramanuja says in this context. AtaH is in the meaning of Hetu.
If one has sadhana chatushtaya before or after Purva mimamsa, one can have Brahma jijnasa. All the details are in bhashya. Can’t explain here.
Anubandha chatushtaya is told in B.S. 1.1.1
Thanks for adding these details. The post is about the explicitness of anubandhacatuṣṭaya. One can read it back in BS 1.1.1, but it was not explicit in it (as you surely agree).
Dear friends,
Govindananda, the autor of the Ratnaprabha commentary, probably belongs to the end of 16th AD; therefore he comes after Sadananda and the first explicit mention of the 4 anubandhas in the Advaita Vedanta tradition is still the one we find in Vedantasara. This is usually considered just an introductory text, but it seems to me that he expressed for the first time some ideas that found great acceptance in later Advaita Vedanta.
Sri Padmapadacharya one of the first four disciples of Sri Shankara in his text Panchapadika explains the 4 anubandhas. In the first sentence itself the explicit mention of the anubandhas can be seen.
Thanks for mentioning it. Would you mind quoting that sentence here for other readers?
Dear Friends,
You can find the alleged text here: https://archive.org/details/pt01pacapadika02padm/page/9/mode/2up
and draw your own conclusions.
Best regards.
Therefore, it seems we find the first EXPLICIT 1)technical use of the term and 2) description of the FOUR classical anubandhas in Sadananda’s Vedantasara?