The Isvarapratyabhijnakarika of Utpaladeva with the Author's Vrtti: Critical Edition and Annoted Translation

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 indispensable 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. Utpaladeva devoted two commentaries to his IPK, a vrtti and a tika or vivæti (now almost totally lost). According to Abhinavagupta, the IPK and the vætti thereon were composed by Utpaladeva at the same time. This makes the vætti an indispensable tool to grasp the original meaning of the difficult karikas of the Isvarapratyabhijna.

About the Author:

Raffaele Torella is a Professor of Sanskrit at University of Rome “Sapienza”. He teaches Indian Philosophies, Religion and Indology. His field of Research are Kashmir Saivism, Linguistic Speculation and Buddhism.