Translation Workshop: Akalaṅka's Aṣṭaśatī and Its Non-Jain Interlocutors

This interactive session will workshop the translation-in-progress of one of the most important and challenging texts on the Jain theory of non-one-sidedness (anekāntavāda). The Eight Hundred (Aṣṭaśatī, c. 8th century CE) of the Digambara philosopher Akalaṅka is a Sanskrit commentary on Samantabhadra’s Examination of an Authority (Āptamīmāṃsā, c. 6th century CE). The Āptamīmāṃsā marks a seminal moment near the turn of the second millennium when the representatives of various philosophical schools entered into Sanskrit debate with each other. The selected section, which we will distribute in the original and our translation, refutes doctrines of one-sided ‘existence’ and ‘non-existence’ propounded by non-Jain philosophical opponents. Whereas Samantabhadra’s text is already translated and studied in English, Akalaṅka’s commentary is not. In an effort to foster lively and productive exchange, the translators will join the audience to work through the primary text in reading groups, after some introductory remarks. Specialists in philosophies that Akalaṅka engages will then unpack the allusions and arguments (Sāṁkhya, Mīmāṃsā, and Yogācāra Buddhism) prior to a general discussion and feedback on the translation. This is a unique panel format that will engage constituencies beyond Jain Studies and facilitate concrete improvements to a work-in-progress.