The Isvarapratyabhijnakarika of Utpaladeva

by Raffaele Torella

The Isvarapratyabhijnakarika IPK of Utpaladeva is the foundation stone of the Pratyabhijna school and constitutes the main theoretical framework of the Trika. It is the most important philosophical work of non-dual tantric Shaivism as a whole. Utpaladeva devoted two commentaries to his IPK a vrtti and a tika . According to Abhinavagupta the IPK and the vrtti thereon were composed by Utpaladeva at the same time. This makes the vrtti and indispenable tool to grasp the original meaning of the difficult karikas of the Isvarapratyabhijna. UNfortunately all vrtti manuscripts from Kashmir broke at the same point and consequently so did the edition published in the Kashmir Series of Texts and Studies in 1918. The author Professor of sanskrit at the University of Roma "La Sapienza." Ordinary member of IsMEO responsible for the Indological section in the Rivista degli Studi Orientali, member of Editorial Committee of Ecole Francaise d`Extreme Orient-Department .Works in progress: Critical edition and english translation of Vamanadatta`s Samvitprakasa. Critaical edition of Abhinavagupta`s Paratrimsikalaghuvrtti with extracts from as unpublished south Indian commentary.