An Enquiry into the Nature of Liberation, by Alex Watson, Dominic Goodall, S.L.P. Anjaneya Sarma

Sadyojyotiḥ (675–725 CE) was a Śaiva Siddhānta theologian whose ‘Verses that Refute the Conceptions of Liberation Advanced by Others’ ( Paramokṣanirāsakārikā ) lists and refutes twenty rival accounts of liberation by other philosophical schools. The text is commented upon by Rāmakaṇṭha (950–1000 CE) who sometimes adds new arguments to Sadyojyotiḥ’s against the twenty views. This is a fine edition and translation of the text produced to the very high standard we have come to expect from the Institut Français de Pondichéry, the product of a collaborative effort by three editors with ‘lion’s share of the work’ falling to Alex Watson (p. 13). The book comprises an extensive introduction outlining the religious and philosophical context in which the text was composed, with interesting sections on the Buddhists, Cārvākas, and...