The University of Nalanda c10.138

c10.138

Another most striking and wonderful feature of this encyclopædia is the reference even to the most contemporary views and their authors.¹ References, for instance, are made to Kumārila, Pātrakesari and others who were either the contemporaries of Śāntarakṣita or immediate predecessors. This is suggestive of the fact that there must be such a continuous flow of students going in and out of that Temple of Learning that its pandits could keep in touch with even the latest developments in the realm of thought. And the marvellous and far-reaching effect that could be produced by such an all embracing work like *Tattvasaṅgraha* among the Schoolmen can be better understood than expressed. It would create a new impetus to refute the charges levelled against them—resulting in a further and deeper introspective study of their systems with a view to completely perfecting the imperfections that might have inadvertently crept in their works. It is healthy controversies of this nature that would lead to the promulgation of new ideas. And if, "it is probable that the Tattvasaṅgraha was written mainly to refute the arguments and theories of Kumārila and Uddyotakara", as Benoytosh Bhattacharyya says¹, it would not be an exaggeration to say that the emergence of Śaṅkara as the champion of the old Upaniṣadic Adhyātmavāda was the direct outcome of such works as Tattvasaṅgraha. It is on account of him primarily that India, which since the time of Buddha for centuries was overridden with the doctrines of Nihilism, Non-Soul, etc., was once more made to believe that there was Soul.