Commentaries and authorship in the philosophical literature of India: a case study based on the collected writings of the Buddhist scholar Sthiramati (6th c. AD)

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Our present concept of authorship of literary or academic works is inseparable from the author's individuality, his creativity and the uniqueness of his oeuvre. It assumes the possession of the intellectual property rights by the author himself. The proposed study will centre around the question of whether it is possible to apply the modern western understanding of a unique authorship to literary works of various genres and periods from India, which are commonly ascribed to single authors by contemporary scholarship. In my work I am aiming at examining the literary methods of Buddhist text composition in classical India with special reference to the collected writings of the Indian scholar Sthiramati (6th c. AD), thereby critically analysing the role of the author. The majority of works composed in India in Sanskrit are commentaries, and Sthiramati, too, considered his writings as elaborations of earlier Buddhist texts. It will be my main concern to examine the role of Indian authors in their capacity as commentators. In particular, my study will address questions on the role of Buddhist commentaries, such as: For what kind of audiences were they written? Is it possible to single out discernable differences among the different commentarial types? Did the commentators adhere to the principles of exegesis laid down in Buddhist manuals? Since Sthiramati was active during the heyday of the Buddhist Yogacara tradition, the proposed project will also result in publications on philosophical concepts of this school in 6th-century India.