Jayarāśi Bhaṭṭa

Who is Jayarāśi Bhaṭṭa?

Jayarāśi Bhaṭṭa was an 8th or 9th century Indian philosopher, author of the Tattvopaplavasimha. The manuscript of this work was discovered in 1926 and published in 1940.

The text is often regarded as belonging to the Cārvāka school, which would make it the only extant authentic text from that school. Werner is sceptical of that attribution, while accepting that the text is an important secondary source for Cārvāka. Dr. Salunkhe holds that Jayarashi Bhatta did not belong to the Charvaka school of philosophy as he denies even Pratyakşa pramana and four Mahābhūtas that Charvaka had accepted. He notes Jayarshi as an agnostic and anti-philosophic rather than a materialistic Lokayat.

The Tattvopaplavasimha examines epistemology, where he considers the pramana accepted in establishing conclusions, and proves that none of them are sufficient for establishing knowledge. Inference relies on inductive reasoning, which cannot be shown to be universal premises. Testimony requires the reliability of the witness, which must be established by another of the pramana. Even direct perception cannot establish truth, because it requires that the perception not be erroneous or illusory, which also cannot be established. Therefore, Jayarasi argues that none of the sources of knowledge are valid, and nothing can be known for certain.