The Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies v2.c15.s19.2

v2.c15.s19.2

Aviddhakarna is one of the most widely discussed authors of this period. References to him are found in various Buddhist works by such writers as Śāntarakṣita, Kamalaśīla, and Karṇagomin. He is also known from Jain sources written by Abhayadeva and others.¹ It seems clear that he wrote a commentary called *Ṭīkā* on a *Nyāya-bhāṣya*, presumably that of Vātsyāyana.² Kamalaśīla says that Aviddhakarṇa wrote a work called *Tattvaṭīkā*.³ Thakur⁴ thinks this may be the same work, but Mahendra Kumar Jain⁵ has argued that in fact there were two Aviddhakarṇas, one the Naiyāyika who flourished between 620 and 700, the other a Cārvāka who lived in the 8th century. Śāntarakṣita and Kamalaśīla do attribute to Aviddhakarṇa views about inference which would seem to be extremely skeptical, and Mahendra Kumar cites Jain authority for Aviddhakarṇa’s view that it is impossible to define the *liṅga* (= *hetu*) and that, since a valid instrument must give us information we do not already have, inference, which depends on memory, is not a valid instrument. It is for these reasons that Mahendra Kumar concludes that the *Tattvaṭīkā* is a different work, and by a different author, from the commentary on the *Nyāyabhāṣya*. On the other hand, Umesh Miśra⁶ explicitly identifies the works. Oberhammer⁷ also assumes they are the same, giving the name *Ruciṭīkā* to the commentary in question.⁸