This book focuses on discussions of metaphysics and epistemology in early modern India found in the works of the South Indian philosopher Vyasatirtha (1460-1539). Vyasatirtha was pivotal to the ascendancy of the Madhva tradition to intellectual and political influence in the Vijayanagara Empire. This book is primarily a philosophical reconstruction based on original translations of relevant parts of Vyasatirthas Sanskrit philosophical text, the Nectar of Logic (Nyayamrta). Vyasatirtha wrote the Nyayamrta as a vindication of his traditions theistic world view against the Advaita tradition of Vedanta. In the centuries after it was written, the Nyayamrta came to dominate philosophical discussions among Vedanta traditions in India. The Advaitins argued for an anti-realist stance about the empirical world, according to which the world of our experience is simply an illusion that can be dispelled by a deep study of the Upaniads. This book reconstructs the parts of the Nyayamrta where Vyasatirtha argues in favor of the reality of the world against the Advaitins. Philosophically, it focuses on the concept of existence in Vyasatirthas metaphysics, and on his arguments about knowledge and the philosophy of perception.

Michael Thomas Williams, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, Austria.