Rosina Pastore

Discussing Nyāya in Brajbhāṣā

On Six Categories of Reasoning in Brajvāsīdās’s Prabodhacandrodaya Nāṭaka

This paper interrogates the representation of the instruments of reasoning (tarka upāya) in Brajvāsīdās’s Prabodhacandrodaya Nāṭaka, “The Drama of the Rise of the Wisdom Moon”, composed in Brajbhāṣā in 1760 CE. How are Nyāya categories expressed in a dramatic mould? What is the context of their exposition and its aim in Brajvāsīdās’s text which displays Vedāntic and bhakti leanings? First, I will introduce the context and the conceptual background of the discussion and then analyse the treatment of Nyāya in the drama through a close reading of the relevant text passages. My conclusions are provisional but make space for the possibility of Nyāya philosophy being treated in languages different from Sanskrit and in literary genres other than technical literature (śāstra).

Keywords logic, Vedānta, philosophy, drama, vernacular, Braj, early modern