The Positive Background of Hindu Sociology c13.s2.t4: 4. Vijnāneśvara

The Positive Background of Hindu Sociology c13.s2.t4

Language: English

4. Vijnāneśvara

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Greater than all his predecessors in the *bhāṣya* (commentary) line and indeed the greatest for all ages is Vijnāneśvara (c 1100), whose *Mitākṣarā* commentary on Yājnavalkya is influential until today throughout India, including Bengal also for certain purposes. He is said to have flourished during the reign of the Western Chālukya King, Vikramānka Vikramāditya VI. of Kalyāni, who ruled for half a century (1076-1126). This is the same Vikramānka about whom Bilhana wrote the *Vikramānkacharita* and whose son, king Someśvara (1127-1138), wrote the *Mānasollāsa*, a treatise on *Nītiśāstra* or politics in 1131.⁹

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⁹ The text of *Mānasollāsa* Vol. I. has been edited by G. K. Shrigondekar (Gaekwad Baroda Series, Baroda 1925), see p. VI. cf. Smith : *Oxford History of India* (1919) p. 202. See also Kane, Vol. I p. 290.

Linked texts (3)

Yājñavalkyasmṛti — Yājñavalkya, Sanskrit
Mānasollāsa (Abhilaṣitārthacintāmaṇi) — Someśvara III, Sanskrit
Vikramāṅkadevacarita — Bilhaṇa, Sanskrit