Shivajnanabodhabhashyam

The experiences and knowledge from our past are recorded in manuscripts which have been handed down to us over several thousand years. The Government of India, through the Department of Culture, took note of the importance of this vast tangible heritage and, in order to preserve and conserve as well as to make access to this wealth easy, established the National Mission for Manuscripts (NMM). In order to disseminate the knowledge content of manuscripts, the Mission has taken up several programmes such as lectures, seminars, and workshops. The Mission publishes the proceedings of the above-said programmes under the following series: “Samrakshika” (on conservation), “Tattvabodha” (comprising lectures based on manuscripts delivered by eminent scholars), Samikshika” (research-oriented papers presented in the seminars), and “Kritibodha” (transcribed and edited texts prepared at advanced level manuscriptology workshops conducted by NMM). NMM has taken up a project for publishing rare and unpublished manuscripts in three forms: (a) facsimile, (b) critical edition with annotation, and (c) critical edition with translation. This series has been named as “Prakashika”. This critically edited volume of the Shivajnanabodhabhashyam is a commentary by Shivagrayogin, an acclaimed authority on Shaiva Siddhanta, on the Shivajnanabodham of Meykandadeva, another great exponent of Shaivaism. It is the most authentic, canonical and methodical work on Shaiva Siddhanta. It stands as a mark of classical scholasticism in the Indian philosophical system. It is 39 in the Prakashika Series.