c Proc. of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. [March, 1910. 



on the Vaicesika philosophy for beginners as well as more 

 advanced students. Professor Chandrakanta's latest work, 

 the Bhasya, as will be readily understood, met with a 

 different kind of reception, with great joy and praise by some, 

 with much doubt and opposition by others. Whether it 

 will win its way and revolutionize the teaching of the Vaice- 

 sika philosophy in Bengal and elsewhere, time only will show. 

 It is on account of this original and, to a certain extent, revo- 

 lutionary character of his work, that the professor calls it a 

 Bhasya. Among Indian pundits various names are in use 

 for expository works ; we have the Bhasya, the Vritti, the Vi- 

 vritti or Vivarana, the Tika, and so forth. But it is only the 

 compiler of Bhasya, whom the rules of learning permit, after 

 he has explained every word and part of word of his text, to 

 put forth original reflections. Compilers of other kinds of com- 

 mentaries must confine themselves to the accepted meaning." 



4. Extract from Professor Max Miiller's letter, dated the 

 12th July, 1896:— .... "But it is different with 

 a work like yours. Your Katantrachhandaprakriya is an origi- 

 nal work and must have cost you much labour. It will be use- 

 ful to every Sanskritist, particularly Vedic scholars, not only 

 in India, but in England also. A good deal has been done for 

 Vedic grammar by European scholars, but one likes to have 

 the authority of native scholars, such as Panini, Katyayana and 

 others. Now unfortunately the Chandasa rules have been 

 treated very scantily by Panini. I suppose he thought the 

 Praticakhyas would supply the necessary information. But 

 that is giksa rather than Vyakarana. I have myself published 

 the Ripraticakhya with a German translation. There was room 

 for work like yours, and I know I shall find it very useful in 

 my studies." 



Owing to a remark made by the late Professor Co well about 

 Vaicesika Bhasya it has become necessary to point out that 

 Chandra Kanta was quite innocent of English or any other 

 European language, nor was he acquainted with modern scienti- 

 fic theories, therefore his strong assertion against "spontane- 

 ous generation ' ' his ascribing form or shape to " air " , as 



conclusion 



m 



he differed so much from Udayana — were entirely due to his 

 deep study of Kanada's system and had nothing to do with 

 * ' modern scientific ideas ' ' as Co well appeared to have suspected. 



The 



CapL E. D.W.Greig, I. M.S., M.B., proposed by Major 

 L. Rogers, seconded by Dr. Hossack ; CapL A. E. J. Lister, 



