Inquiring Into Indian Theories of Verbal Cognition (Critical Essay‪)‬

We are fortunate to have N. S. Ramanuja Tatacharya's second volume in a projected series of four volumes, the first of which (Sabdabodhamimamsa, An Inquiry into Indian Theories of Verbal Cognition: Vakyavakyarthavicaratmakah prathamo bhagah, part I: The Sentence and its Significance) appeared in 2005 and dealt with the sentence and sentential meaning. Volumes III and IV will concern, respectively, nominal stems; and verbs and verbal suffixes. The first volume included both a Sanskrit introduction and a close English rendition. The present volume also includes an introduction (bhunika), but only in Sanskrit (1-35). In addition to the detailed table of contents (37-69) in Sanskrit, this work includes a short table of contents in English (i). As Ramanuja Tatacharya notes at the beginning of his introduction (p. 1), the first volume was extensive, but the present volume is even more so. The main part of the work covers 871 pages, preceded by the above-mentioned introduction and table of contents. There are also four appendices (anubandhah): a bibliography (udahrtagranthanam suci, 875-87), followed by indexes of slokas (subarthavicare udahrtanam slokanam akaradikramena suci 889-96), examples (sabdabodhavarnanartham udahrtanam vakyanam suci, 897-932), and notions (vivrtanam padanam suci. 933-40). The Sanskrit headings for the indexes are more informative than the English terms used in the summary table of contents.