Ramanuja’s “Gādya-traya” in the Categorical System of Transcendental Hermeneutics by G. Oberhammer. Oberhammer, Gerhard, “Begegnung als Kategorie der Religion Hermeneutik”, Fragment, Transl. by Ruzana V. Pskhu

Abstract

The article concerns the place and the role of the text, which is attributed to Rāmānuja, in the philosophical tradition of Viśiṣtādvaita. A historiographical re­view of the studies of the main parts of the Gādya-traya is given (in particular, the main arguments for and against the assertion of Ramanuja’s authorship of this text, put forward in the articles of R. Lester (Rāmānuja and Śrī-Vaiṣṇavism: The Concept of Prapatti or Śaraṇāgatigādya) and N. Nayar (The Concept of prapatti inRāmānuja’s Gītārthasaṃgraha), as well as questions raised by a number of other authors). The role of this text in the late Viśiṣtādvaita tradition (in particular, in the Teṇgalai and Vaḍagalai traditions) is also briefly highlighted. Based on tex­tual comparisons of the Sanskrit texts of the Vaikuṇṭhagādya (one of the parts of “Gādya-traya”) and the “Vedārthasaṃgraha” of Rāmānuja the arguments for and against considering Rāmānuja as the author of this text are considered. The con­tent of the text is interpreted in the aspect of G. Oberhammer’s Transcendental hermeneutics, in particular, one of his categories – “Encounter” (Begegnung). The philosophical content of the category “Encounter” is revealed in one of Oberham­mer’s works (Begegnung als Kategorie der Hermeneutik Religioser Traditionen), the translation of its fragment is adjuncted to this article.