Brahmasiddhi

Brahmasiddhi is a foundational treatise of early Advaita Vedānta composed by Ācārya Maṇḍana Miśra and presented in this critical edition with the commentary of Śaṅkhapāṇi. Edited by S. Kuppuswami Sastri, the volume includes an extensive English introduction, appendices, textual corrections, indexes, and historical discussions concerning Maṇḍana’s place within the development of Indian philosophy. The work systematically examines the nature of Brahman, the individual self, ignorance, bondage, knowledge, and liberation. Maṇḍana defends the non-dual identity of the self and Brahman while explaining the empirical appearance of multiplicity through ignorance. Particular attention is given to the relation between Vedic revelation and liberating knowledge, the interpretation of the Upaniṣadic great sayings, and the means by which verbal cognition can culminate in direct realization. The text also considers whether knowledge alone produces liberation or whether meditation, repetition, ritual preparation, and other disciplines retain an indispensable role. A major philosophical issue concerns the status of the phenomenal world and the relationship between cognition and its objects. Maṇḍana develops an influential theory of error and appearance while engaging with Mīmāṃsā, Buddhist, Nyāya, and other philosophical positions. His synthesis retains significant elements of Mīmāṃsā epistemology and hermeneutics while directing them toward the Advaitic goal of Brahman-realization. The editor’s introduction further examines the history of siddhi literature, Maṇḍana’s chronology and authorship, his relationship with Śaṅkara and Sureśvara, and the transmission of the Brahmasiddhi through later commentaries. This edition is therefore an important primary resource for studying pre- and early Śaṅkara Advaita, the interaction between Mīmāṃsā and Vedānta, and the doctrinal formation of classical non-dualism.