Brahma Sutra Karika Bhasyam

The Brahma-sutra-karika-bhasya is a unique composition in many respects. Besides being one of the most concise commentaries on the whole Brahma-sutra, it may be the only extant versified (karika) commentary on every single aphorism. Versified commentaries are rare, given that versification substantially increases the level of difficulty, and only a few authors ventured to write one. Madhvacarya’s Anuvyakhyana was probably the major source of inspiration for Vidyabhusana to compose his own karika commentary, in which he explains all the 552 sutras in merely 750 verses, most of them in anustup (32 syllables). Some aphorisms are glossed with a quarter of a verse (pada), while others are more elaborately commented in several verses. Madhvacarya’s influence is also evident from the very first section, where Vidyabhusana brings the concept of ‘visesa.’ The author also gives original interpretations to several aphorisms all over the text, which also differ considerably from those in his Govinda-bhasya.