Sarvajñātman is a well-known Advaita scholar, sometimes dated to the 9th century due to his assumed relation with Sureśvara, but more likely to have written some time after the 10th century. His best known work is the Saṃkṣepaśārīraka ("Vedānta in a nutshell"), an independent treatise developing in metrical form the main tenets of Vedānta philosophy. The purpose of this reading session was to investigate for the first time a less well-known work of his, the Pramāṇalakṣaṇa ("Definition of the means of valid knowledge"), in which the six means of knowledge (pramāṇa) accepted by śaṅkaran Advaita are examined against the background of the Mīmāṃsā system and its basic texts (e.g. the Mīmāṃsāsūtras, which are frequently quoted by Sarvajñātman). The plan was to discuss, on the basis of a close reading of Sarvajñātman's text and with the help of Dr. Tomohiro Manabe (Kyushu University), the relation of the Pramāṇalakṣaṇa to earlier Mīmāṃsaka tradition, as well as its situation in later Advaita literature.  The workshop, open to all, was organized by Akane Saito (now a post-doc at the Pondicherry Centre, thanks to a two-year grant from the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science), and Hugo David.  

 workshops