Le Tattvabindu de Vacaspatimisra

by Madeleine Biardeau

The present publication is a critical edition and a translation into French of the Tattvabindu, a Sanskrit text by V?caspatimi?ra, belonging to the M?m?m?sa system and dealing with the philosophical aspect of speech. Dating back to the 9th century A.D, a time of great achievements in the schools of Indian metaphysics, the Tattvabindu presents the state of learning on the subject in a way that is rich with historical and philosophical information. The text attempts to confront the problematic of knowledge transmission from a psychological perspective. It explains the manner in which sounds articulated by the speaker are understood by the listener and given meaning, but it also deals with the totality of the problems raised by language in the context of Indian philosophy, the problem of the nature of language and the nature of reality.