Introduction

This chapter presents a critical examination of three Sanskrit doxographies: the Madhyamakahrdayakarika of the Buddhist Bhaviveka, the Saddarsanasamuccaya of the Jain Haribhadra, and the Sarvasiddhantasangraha attributed to the Advaitin Sankara. It clearly identifies three critical features of doxography upon which rests the interpretation of the nature and function of the genre: namely, the systematic, the dialectical, and the ahistorical forms of doxography. Mansfeld stresses that doxographies are always fully dedicated to the presentation of competing views on a given topic and are not independent compositions where philosophers would formulate their own view. Doxographical contents are either ‘fragments’ or ‘testimonies’ dependent on a certain tradition of transmission. The chapter provides the foundation for a clear definition of the literary ‘genre,’ a definition which could generally be applied onto varying doxographical materials, of divergent historical and cultural contexts.