००

PREFACE

THE Sarvadarsanasangraha is a work by Mádhaváchárya, the well-known scholiast of the Vedas. It contains short notices ofall the systems of Indian Philosophy, and as such is very valuable.It is natural to suppose that every Indian Sanskrit scholar wouldhave possessed a copy of a treatise of so much importance.But it is somewhat singular that manuscripts of the work arevery rare, and that the great majority of the learned of thiscountry are probably not even aware of its existence. If notprinted now, the Sarvadarsanasangraha would, in all probability,share the common fate of many other valuable relics of Sanskrit learning. To preserve the work from destruction I proposed to the Asiatic Society of Bengal to edit the work for them ifthey would undertake to print it. My offer was kindly accepted,and the work, under their auspices, is printed and published.

When I first undertook to edit the work, I was under theimpression that the task would be an easy one.There weretwo manuscripts in Calcutta, one in the Library of the SanskritCollege, and the other in that of the Asiatic Society. On first reading the book I thought that the former manuscript wassufficiently correct. But scrutinizing it with the care necessaryfor publication, I collated it with the copy in the Society’sLibrary and found that without the aid of more manuscripts,the readings in several passages in which the two manuscriptsdiffer, could not be reconciled. No other manuscripts werehowever procurable in Bengal; but by good fortune I procuredthree manuscripts from Benares. These were of essential serviceto me, and it was only after carefully collating them with thetexts in Calcutta that I have been able to edit the work.

I feel it my duty here to express my great obligations to Mr. Edward Hall, late of the Benares College, through whose kindexertions the Benares manuscripts were received. Without histimely aid it would have been impossible for me to execute the task I had undertaken with the accuracy requisite. My obligations are also due to Professors Jayanáráyana Tarkapanchánana and Táránátha Tarkaváchaspati of the Sanskrit Collegefor the material assistance that they afforded to me in the undertaking.

• Sanskrit College,*
  The 20th January, 1858.