ABSTRACT
FOR a critical student of Indian Philosophy the different Absolutisms present one of the crucial but unsolved problems. We are confronted with the Śūnya of the Mādhyamika, the Vijñaptimatratā of the Vijñānavādin, the Brahman of the Vedānta, Īsvarādvaita of the Pratyabhijñā system, Śabda Brahman of the Vaiyākaraṇas and possibly other advaitisms. It is a commonly held notion that there is no real difference between the absolutes of these systems; the differences are superficial and pertain only to terminology. Why then does the Vedānta refute the Mādhyamika, and the Mādhyamika the Vijñānavāda and vice versa, to mention only a few instances? 1 We are asked to believe that owing either to their faulty understanding of each other's philosophy or to religious fanaticism, they mistook a friend for a foe; hence the severe polemic found in each system against the others. It is even suggested that the refutations have been wilfully indulged in. Stcherbatsky says for example:
