Ancient Indian Education (Brahmanical and Buddhist) c31.12

c31.12

**(3) Composition, (4) Logic and Philosophy.** "After having studied this commentary, students begin to learn *Composition* in prose and verse and devote themselves to Logic (Hetuvidyā) and Metaphysics (Abhidharmakosha)." Under Logic, they study the introductory work composed by Nāgārjuna, called Nyāyadvāra-tāraka-śāstra, which teaches how to "rightly draw inferences (Anumāna)" and which was translated into Chinese by I-tsing in A.D. 711, while "by studying the *Jātakamāla* their powers of comprehension increase". Besides the *Jātakamāla* which was compiled under the patronage of the emperor Harsha (p. 163), there was another work which was equally popular and "regarded as standard literature", viz. the *Suhṛillekha*, an epistle in verse, addressed by Nāgārjuna to his patron, king Jetaka Sātavāhana (p. 159), known for the beauty of its style and for its earnest exhortations as to the right way. I-tsing sent in advance to China a Chinese translation of this Epistle of Nāgārjuna (p. 166).