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SUMMARY:42nd Symposium on Sri-Harsha's Khaṇḍanakhaṇḍakhādya
DESCRIPTION:The Khaṇḍana-khaṇḍa-khādya\, the magnum opus of 12th-century Advaita philosopher and poet Śrī-Harṣa\, stands as a landmark in the history of Indian philosophical thought. Renowned for its incisive reasoning\, rigorous dialectics\, and refined literary style\, the work holds a distinctive place within the Advaita Vedānta tradition as a masterful exercise in philosophical refutation (khaṇḍana). Its very title “A Delicacy Made from Fragments of Refutations” announces its polemical flavour and Śrī-Harṣa’s relish for intellectual debate. \nWhile Śrī-Harṣa is more popularly remembered in literary circles for his Sanskrit epic Naishadhīya-carita (commonly known as Naishadham)\, a courtly poem of immense poetic sophistication and rich imagery\, his Khaṇḍana-khaṇḍa-khādya is a profound contribution to the philosophical literature of Advaita Vedānta. The two works\, though seemingly distinct in tone and subject\, together offer a window into the complex persona of Śrī-Harṣa as a scholar who was equally at home in the world of refined poetry and uncompromising metaphysical inquiry. \nBorn to a learned Kanyakubja Brahmana family—Śrīhira and Mamalladevī—Śrī-Harṣa’s early life was steeped in Sanskrit learning. His father\, Śrīhira\, served as a poet in the court of the Gāhāḍavāla king Vijayachandra. Later\, Śrī-Harṣa flourished as both a poet and philosopher under Gāhāḍavāla king Jayachandra. His writing  includes not only Naishadhacharitam and Khaṇḍana-khaṇḍa-khādya\, but also a wide range of works such as Vijayapraśastiḥ\, Śivāśakti-siddhiḥ\, Amarakhaṇḍanam\, and Sthairyavicāraṇa-prakaraṇam\, among others. These reveal a wide-ranging intellect engaged in both aesthetic and spiritual pursuits. \nAlthough Naishadham is often associated with courtly love and royal grandeur with vivid erotic and aesthetic expressions\, several commentators have identified esoteric and mystical layers within the poem. Jain scholar Nayachandra Sūri (15th century) described Śrī-Harṣa as jitendriya (one with mastered senses)\, while modern Telugu scholar Gunturu Seshendra Sharma\, in his book Swarnahamsa\, argues that the Naishadham encodes Chintāmaṇi mantra-sādhanā\, revealing a deeper metaphysical underpinning beneath its poetic veil. These divergent yet converging interpretations suggest that Śrī-Harṣa was not merely a connoisseur of language and logic\, but a man deeply immersed in mantra-upāsanā and Advaitic contemplation. \nIn the Khaṇḍana-khaṇḍa-khādya\, Śrī-Harṣa turns his dialectical acumen toward a systematic dismantling of the epistemological and ontological foundations of the Nyāya-Vaiśeṣika school. Central to Śrī-Harṣa’s philosophical position is the non-dualist insight that ultimate reality (Brahman) is beyond pramāṇas (means of knowledge) and conceptual articulation. Śrī Harṣa critiques the very possibility of establishing valid knowledge through definition (lakṣaṇa)\, inference (anumāna)\, or perception (pratyakṣa)\, arguing that all such constructs are inherently self-limiting. In this\, he aligns with and yet extends the apophatic tendencies seen in earlier Advaita works like Gauḍapāda’s Kārikās and Śaṅkara’s Brahmasūtra-bhāṣya. \nThroughout this work\, Śrī-Harṣa’s aim is to demonstrate the instability of rational inquiry within philosophy. For any argument that a philosopher may offer for his view\, there is always an equally persuasive counterargument that undermines its conclusion. Since the deliverances of reason are always vulnerable to rational defeat in this way\, they cannot constitute good evidence for any philosophical view. \nUnlike the more expository texts within Advaita tradition that seek to establish the non-dual truth through śruti\, logic\, and anubhava\, Śrī-Harṣa’s method is relentlessly apophatic. His work belongs to the tradition of khaṇḍana-granthas—texts that perform philosophical demolition rather than construction—yet it does so with a unique flair. The phonetic flamboyance of the title itself reflects not just a fondness for alliteration\, but the self-aware joy of a dialectician who finds aesthetic pleasure in philosophical sparring. \nThrough this symposium\, we aim to explore the methodological\, epistemological\, and metaphysical dimensions of Khaṇḍana-khaṇḍa-khādya. \nSCHEDULE \n\n\n\n\nTime\nSpeaker\nTitle of Talk\n\n\n9.00 AM-9.10 AM\nNithin Sridhar \nDirector & Chief Curator\, INDICA Moksha\nOpening Remarks\n\n\n9.10 AM-10.00 AM\nDr. Nagaraj Paturi \nKulapati | Vice-Chancellor\, INDICA\nInaugural Talk – Placing Khaṇḍanakhaṇḍakhādya Within Śrīharsha’s Body Of Work\n\n\n10.00 AM-10.30 AM\nAcharya Jaishankar Narayanan\nVedanta Acharya. Runs Aarsha Vidya Varshini Gurukulam at Kallidaikurichi\nBheda Khaṇḍanam – Refutation Of Distinctness In Khaṇḍanakhaṇḍakhādya\n\n\n10.30 AM-11 AM\nVidwan Kuvalaya Datta\nTraditional Scholar & Teacher of Advaita Vedanta\, Datta Peetham\, Mysuru\nभावत्व-अभावत्वलक्षणयोः खण्डनम् – Refutation Of The Characteristics Of Being And Non-being [Sanskrit Talk]\n\n\n11.00 AM-11.30 AM\nDr. Suryanarayana Jammalamadaka \nSenior Project Manager\, Siddhanta Knowledge Foundation |\nCo-founder\, Kameswari Foundation\nThe Inadequacy Of Definitions In Nyāya\n\n\n11.30 AM – 12.00 PM\nSudhanshu Shekhar\nCommissioner of Income-tax in New Delhi\nRejection Of Causation As Per Khaṇḍanakhaṇḍakhādya\n\n\n12.00 PM – 12.30 PM\nVidwan Raghavendra Arolli\nAssistant Professor (Guest) in Nyaya Department at Shri Rajiv Gandhi Campus\, Central Sanskrit University\, Sringeri\nप्रत्यक्षलक्षणखण्डनम् – Refutation Of The Definition Of Perception [Sanskrit Talk]\n\n\n12.30 PM – 1.00 PM\nDr. Kuppa Bilwesha Sarma\nAssistant Professor\, Department of Prachina Vyakarana\, Sampurnanand Sanskrit University\, Varanasi\nअद्वैतसिद्धौ खण्डनयुक्तयः – Application Of Principles From Khaṇḍanakhaṇḍakhādya In Advaita Siddhi [Sanskrit Talk]\n\n\n1.00 PM – 1.30 PM\nVidwan Dr. Ganesh Ishvar Bhat\nHOD and Professor in Advaita Vedanta Department\, Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan in Rajiv Gandhi Campus\, Sringeri\nअद्वैते प्रमाणविचारः- Inquiry Into The Means Of Knowledge In Advaita [Sanskrit Talk]\n\n\n1.30 PM – 2.00 PM\nVidwan Vachaspati Joshi Shastri \nAdhyapaka\, Jagadguru Shankaracharya Sankrita Pathashala\, Dharwad\nखण्डखाद्यग्रन्थे वितंडासंचारः- The Method Of Vitaṇḍā Employed In Khaṇḍanakhaṇḍakhādya [Sanskrit Talk]\n\n\n2.00 PM – 2.30 PM\nDr. Srinivas Jammalamadaka\nDirector\, IKS Research\, Brhat Educational Trust | Co-founder\, Kameswari Foundation\nŚrīharsha’s Refutation Of Opposition Of Existence & Non-existence\n\n\n2.30 PM – 3.00 PM\nNithin Sridhar \nDirector & Chief Curator\, INDICA Moksha\nConclusion And Vote Of Thanks\n\n\n\n 
URL:https://indica.events/event/sri-harshas-khandanakhandanakhadya/
CATEGORIES:Symposiums
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