On the Dates of Candrānanda and Bhāviveka:

The “Two-Finger” Illustration

Abstract

This essay offers an analysis of what I will call the “two-finger” illustration, which Bhāviveka discusses in the Vaiśeṣikatattvaviniścaya chapter of the Tarkajvālā, the auto-commentary on his Madhyamakahṛdaya[kārikā], wherein he introduces and criticizes the theories of the Vaiśeṣika school. Going through the early Vaiśeṣika literature, I noticed that these two-finger (dvyaṅgula, two fingers in a unit form, or finger-pair) illustrations only occur in Candrānanda’s Vṛtti, and that they do so in a very clear and straightforward manner. As I will point out, what is a mystery, and what is indeed somewhat perplexing, is the fact that the references to this illustration in the Tarkajvālā are not at all immediately intelligible. This circumstance will be addressed in this essay, in which I will also offer an interpretation and propose a solution to the issue at hand. In addition, the relative chronology of Bhāviveka and Candrānanda, as well as their contemporaries around the sixth century India, will also be discussed.