On the Lost Nyāyatattva of Nāthamuni: A Reconstruction of Its Reception in Later Works

Abstract

Nāthamuni (circa 9th century), traditionally regarded as the earliest doctrinal exponent of the Viśiṣṭādvaita tradition, authored a work called Nyāyatattva, which is now considered lost.
Lost texts, like those that have been preserved, undeniably belong to a historical context that shaped and influenced them. Therefore, my lecture focuses on reconstructing this work by analyzing citations from later scholars, including Yāmuna (10th century), Rāmānuja (12th century), Sudarśanasūri (13th century), and, most notably, Veṅkaṭanātha (13th century). The objective is to assess the feasibility of such a reconstruction by examining the reception history of Nyāyatattva, i.e., the reliability of citations found in these later sources, and their status as textual fragments that may reflect the original content.
The lecture will present the themes that have already been identified, offering a fragmented yet tentative glimpse into the structure of Nyāyatattva, as far as it can be reconstructed from these later quotations. However, the extent to which such a reconstruction can be successfully achieved and reliably recreate the original work remains open to debate.