Author Description

Tantravarttika is the magnum opus of Kumarila Bhatta, a seventh century thinker and greatest exponent of the Purva Mimamsa system. Founder of the Bhatta school of Mimamsa, he was a native of South India. This work is a commentary on a part of Kumarila's commentary on Purvamimamsa Sutra of Jaimini and Sabara-svamin's Bhasya, mainly in prose, running from Adhyaya I, Pada II to the end of Adhyaya III. This is a unique work showing the deep scholarship of the author. Here Kumarila has shown his mastery over other schools of thought as well. His other works are Slokavartika, a commentary on I. 1 of the Purvamimamsa Sutra of Jaimini. This great work was translated for the first time into English by Dr. Ganganatha Jha and published in Bibliotheca Indica Series, of which this is a reprint.The translator, Dr. Ganganatha Jha. (1871) was a versatile scholar. He was a Professor of Sanskrit in the old Muir Central College Allahabad, then the Principal of the government Sanskrit College, Banaras and then the vice-Chancellor of the Allahabad University for nine years. Though engaged in all these multifarious duties he was able to write more than fifty works on different Indian philosophical systems. In addition to the tantravarttika, he also translated Kumarila's Slokavarttika and Sabara's Bhasya into English. He was the first scholar to write a thesis on 'The Prabhakara School of Purvamimamsa'IntroductionThe Introduction to a book like the Tantra-Vartika is expected to contain (1) an account of the Author and (2) a brief account of the contents of the work. As regards (1), I have secured a contribution from my esteemed friend, Pandit Gopinath Kaviraj of the Sanskrit College, Benares, which is given below. As regards (2), I have nothing very much to add to what I have already said in my work on the Prabhakara School of Purva Mimansa. I have how