A History of Indian Philosophy v2.c19.14

v2.c19.14

The *Yoga-vāsiṣṭha* had a number of commentaries, and it was also summarized in verse by some writers whose works also had commentaries written upon them. Thus Advayāraṇya, son of Narahari, wrote a commentary on it, called *Vāsiṣṭha-Rāmāyaṇa-candrikā*. Ānandabodhendra Sarasvatī, pupil of Gaṅgādharendra Sarasvatī of the nineteenth century, wrote the *Tātparya-prakāśa*. Gaṅgādharendra also is said to have written a commentary of the same name. Rāmadeva and Sadānanda also wrote two commentaries on the work, and in addition to these there is another commentary, called *Yoga-vāsiṣṭha-tātparya-saṃgraha*, and another commentary, the *Pada-candrikā*, was written by Mādhava Sarasvatī. The names of some of its summaries are *Bṛhad-yoga-vāsiṣṭha*, *Laghu-jñāna-vāsiṣṭha*, *Yoga-vāsiṣṭha-ślokāḥ* and *Yoga-vāsiṣṭha-saṃkṣepa* by Gauḍa Abhinanda of the ninth century, *Yoga-vāsiṣṭha-sāra* or *Jñāna-sāra*, *Yoga-vāsiṣṭha-sāra-saṃgraha* and *Vāsiṣṭha-sāra* or *Vāsiṣṭha-sāra-gūḍhārthā* by Rāmānanda Tīrthā, pupil of Advaitānanda. The *Yoga-vāsiṣṭha-saṃkṣepa* of Gauḍa Abhinanda had a commentary by Ātmasukha, called *Candrikā*, and another called *Saṃsāra-taraṇī*, by Mummaḍideva. The *Yoga-vāsiṣṭha-sāra* also had two commentaries by Pūrṇānanda and Mahīdhara. Mr Sivaprasad Bhattacarya in an article on the *Yoga-vāsiṣṭha-Rāmāyaṇa* in the *Proceedings of the Madras Oriental Conference of* 1924 says that the *Mokṣopāya-sāra*, which is another name for the *Yoga-vāsiṣṭha-sāra*, was written by an Abhinanda who is not to be confused with Gauḍa Abhinanda. But he misses the fact that Gauḍa Abhinanda had also written another summary of it, called *Yoga-vāsiṣṭha-saṃkṣepa*. Incidentally this also refutes his view that the *Yoga-vāsiṣṭha* is to be placed between the tenth and the twelfth centuries. For, if a summary of it was written by Gauḍa Abhinanda of the ninth century, the *Yoga-vāsiṣṭha* must have been written at least in the eighth century. The date of the *Yoga-vāsiṣṭha* may thus be regarded as being the seventh or the eighth century.