The Ubiquitous Siva Volume II (ePub)

This is a sequel to a volume published in 2011 by OUP under the title The Ubiquitous ?iva: Som?nanda's ?ivad???i and his Tantric Interlocutors. The first volume offered an introduction, critical edition, and annotated translation of the first three chapters of the ?ivad???i of Som?nanda, along with its principal commentary, the ?ivad???iv?tti, written by Utpaladeva. It dealt primarily with ?aiva theology and the religious views of competing esoteric traditions. The present volume presents the fourth chapter of the ?ivad???i and ?ivad???iv?tti and addresses a fresh set of issues that engage a distinct family of opposing schools and authors of mainstream Indian philosophical traditions.

In this fourth chapter, Som?nanda and Utpaladeva engage logical and philosophical works that exerted tremendous influence in the Indian subcontinent in its premodernity. Among the authors and schools addressed by Som?nanda in this chapter are the Buddhist Epistemologists, and Dharmak?rti in particular; the Hindu school of hermeneutics, i.e., the M?m??s?; the Hindu realist schools of the logic- and debate-oriented Ny?ya and their ontologically-oriented partners, the Vai?e?ika; and the Hindu, dualist S??khya and Yoga schools.

Throughout this chapter, Som?nanda endeavors to explain his brand of ?aivism philosophically. Som?nanda challenges his philosophical interlocutors with a single over-arching argument: he suggests that their views cannot cohere?they cannot be explained logically?unless their authors accept the ?aiva non-duality for which he advocates. The argument he offers, despite its historical influence, remains virtually unstudied. The Ubiquitous ?iva Volume II offers the first English translation of Chapter Four of the ?ivad???i and ?ivad???iv?tti along with an introduction and critical edition.