The Tarka‑Bhāṣā‑Vārtika of Śubhāvijaya

Summary

This note introduces a newly noticed commentary on the *Tarkabhāṣā* of Keśava Miśra (c. 1275 CE), a Nyāya primer that subsumes the six Vaiśeṣika categories under the Nyāya category of *artha* (objects of knowledge)file:///home/oai/share/split_pdfs/19_Devanagari_Title8.pdf#:~:text=Vaisesika%20and%20Nyaya%20philosophies%20actually,Prameya. The Vārtika was composed by Śubhāvijaya Gani, a seventeenth‑century Jaina monk who describes himself as a disciple of Hīravijayasūri, a contemporary of Emperor Akbar. Śubhāvijaya wrote at least four other works, including the *Syādvādabhāṣāsūtra* and *Senapraśnāśarasangraha*file:///home/oai/share/split_pdfs/19_Devanagari_Title8.pdf#:~:text=Subhavijaya%20has%20authored%20at%20least,S%20Hie%20Piamottaromalo. The author explains that previous scholars such as Satis Chandra Vidyābhūṣaṇa overlooked this commentary because it survives in only two manuscripts preserved at the L.D. Institute of Indology (nos. 20796 and 30486). The present article summarises the contents of the vārtika and notes that its printed edition distinguishes Keśava’s original *Tarkabhāṣā* sutras in bold type from Śubhāvijaya’s prose commentaryfile:///home/oai/share/split_pdfs/19_Devanagari_Title8.pdf#:~:text=Indology%2C%20Ahmedabad%2C%20viz,the%20riiM%20work%20TBV%20of. The note emphasises the importance of this Jain contribution to Nyāya‑Vaiśeṣika literature and signals plans for a full critical edition in a future issue.