Padmanabha Mishra

Padmanabha Mishra (16th century) Sanskrit scholar and logician, son of Balabhadra Mishra, also a sanskrit scholar. Padmanabha was the court-pundit (1548-1556) of Durgavati, queen of Garamandala in Gauda and one of the logicians at the court of akbar. His youngest brother and disciple Govardhana Mishra became famous for Tarkabhasaprakash.

Padmanabha was educated at Benares, where he also worked all his life. He studied Nyaya (dialectics), vaishesika (a system of philosophy by Kanada), vedanta, dharmashastra (scriptures), alabkara (rhetoric) etc with famous scholars of the time. He became principally noted as a scholar of nyaya. His books on nyaya and vaishesika were once widely studied in India. Some of his books on the nyaya philosophy include Pratyaksachintamanipariksa, Anumanamanipariksa, and Shabdapariksa. Two of his famous books on vaishesika are Nyayakandalisar and Kiranavalibhaskar.

He also wrote books on poetics and rhetoric. He composed an eulogy in prose and poetry called Birbhadradevachampu in honour of Birbhadradeva, the son of his patron Raja Ramchandra. He also wrote Sharadagam, a commentary on jaydev's famous book on rhetoric, Chandralok. He wrote a book on theology, Durgavatiprakash, and another book on Vedanta, Khandanaparakram. [Satyanarayan Chakraborty]