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Sriharsa

Śrīharṣa was a twelfth-century Advaita Vedānta philosopher and poet, traditionally associated with the court at Kanauj. In his dialectical work, The Sweets of Refutation,…

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श्रीहर्ष

Also known as Śrīharṣa, Shriharsha

c. 12th century CE · Kanauj (North India)

Traditions: Indian

Schools: Vedanta

Śrīharṣa was a twelfth-century Advaita Vedānta philosopher and poet, traditionally associated with the court at Kanauj. In his dialectical work, The Sweets of Refutation, he pressed destructive arguments against the definitions of valid cognition and of the categories offered by the Nyāya school, aiming to show that none can be stated without fault. His method invites comparison with ancient skepticism, but it served an Advaita conclusion about non-dual reality rather than simple suspension of judgement.

Key ideas

  • Every proposed definition of valid cognition and its objects can be shown to fail.
  • A refuter need not hold a positive thesis of his own to refute others.
  • The failure of definitions undermines the realist pluralism of Nyāya.
  • Dialectical refutation clears the way for the Advaita view of a single self-luminous reality.

Major works

  • Khaṇḍanakhaṇḍakhādya (The Sweets of Refutation)
  • Naiṣadhīyacarita (Sanskrit poem)

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The questions of philosophy where Sriharsa takes a place, from The Coordinates of Thought.