Bimal Krishna Matilal
Portrait of Bimal Krishna Matilal
Born	1 June 1935 Jaynagar Majilpur,Calcutta,Bengal Presidency,British India (present-daySouth 24 Parganas,West Bengal,India)
Died	8 June 1991 (aged 56) Oxford,England,United Kingdom
Awards	Padma Bhushan (1990)
Education
Education	Sanskrit,Mathematics andLogic
Alma mater	Maulana Azad College Harvard University
Philosophical work
Notable works	Founding editor of theJournal of Indian Philosophy

Bimal Krishna Matilal (1 June 1935 – 8 June 1991) was an eminentphilosopher^[1][2] whose writings presented theIndian philosophical tradition as a comprehensive system of logic incorporating most issues addressed by themes in Westernphilosophy. Born in Calcutta, he lived and worked in Calcutta, Harvard, Toronto and Oxford. From 1977 to 1991, he served as theSpalding Professor of Eastern Religion and Ethics at theUniversity of Oxford.

Literate inSanskrit from an early age, Matilal was also drawn towardsMathematics andLogic. He was trained in the traditional Indian philosophical system by leading scholars of theSanskrit College, where he himself was a teacher from 1957 to 1962. He was taught by scholars like pandit Taranath Tarkatirtha and Kalipada Tarkacharya. He also interacted with pandit Ananta Kumar Nyayatarkatirtha, Madhusudan Nyayacharya and Visvabandhu Tarkatirtha. He was awarded theupadhi (degree) of Tarkatirtha (master of Logic) in 1962.

While teaching at theSanskrit College (an affiliated college of theUniversity of Calcutta) between 1957 and 1962, Matilal came in contact withDaniel Ingalls, anIndologist atHarvard University, who encouraged him to join the PhD program there. Matilal secured aFulbright fellowship and completed his PhD under Ingalls on theNavya-Nyāya doctrine ofnegation, between 1962 and 1965. During this period, he also studied withWillard Van Orman Quine. Subsequently, he was professor of Sanskrit at theUniversity of Toronto, and in 1977 he was elected Spalding Professor at Oxford, succeedingSarvepalli Radhakrishnan andRobert Charles Zaehner.

Matilal died of cancer on 8 June 1991.

• Padma Bhushan 1990^[1]

In his work, he presented Indian logic, particularlyNyāya-Vaiśeṣika,Mīmāṃsā andBuddhist philosophy, as being relevant in modern philosophical discourse. Matilal presented Indian Philosophical thought more as a synthesis rather than a mere exposition. This helped create a vibrant revival of interest in Indian philosophical tradition as a relevant source of ideas rather than a dead discipline.

He was also the founding editor of theJournal of Indian Philosophy.

• Bimal Krishna Matilal (1971).Epistemology, Logic and Grammar in Indian Philosophical Analysis. De Gruyter.ISBN 9789997821942.^[3][4]
• Bimal Krishna Matilal (1985).Logic, Language, and Reality: an introduction to Indian philosophical studies. Motilal Banarsidass.ISBN 978-81-208-0008-3.^[5]
• Bimal Krishna Matilal (1985).Perception: An Essay on Classical Indian Theories of Knowledge. Clarendon.^[6]
• Logical and Ethical Issues: An essay on the Indian Philosophy of Religion, Calcutta University 1982 (repr. Chronicle Books, Delhi 2004)
• Navya Nyâya Doctrine of Negation,Harvard Oriental Series 46, 1968
• Bimal Krishna Matilal (1990).The Word and the World: India's contribution to the study of language. Oxford University Press.ISBN 978-0-19-562515-8.^[7]
• Bimal Krishna Matilal (1999).The Character of Logic in India. Oxford University Press.ISBN 978-0-19-564896-6.^{[8][9][10][11]}
• Niti, Yukti o Dharma, (inBengali), Ananda Publishers Calcutta 1988.

See also theentries in Worldcat.

• Indian logic
• Śākaṭāyana (Matilal discusses the claim that all nominals are ultimately derived from verbal roots)
• Nyāya Sūtras

• Heeraman Tiwari, Introduction to theLogical and Ethical Issues: An essay on the Indian Philosophy of Religion, University of Calcutta 1982.
• J.N. Mohanty, Introduction toRelativism, Suffering and Beyond: Essays in Memory of Bimal K. Matilal, Edited by J N Mohanty and Purushottama Bilimoria, Oxford University Press 1997.
• Daniel Ingalls,In Memoriam Bimal Krishna Matilal, Journal of Indian Philosophy 1991

Wikiquote has quotations related toBimal Krishna Matilal.

• A conference honouring Matilal was organized inJadavpur University in January 2007.

• 1935 births
• 1991 deaths
• Indian Sanskrit scholars
• Sanskrit grammarians
• University of Calcutta alumni
• Harvard University alumni
• Academic staff of the University of Calcutta
• Indian logicians
• Epistemologists
• Spalding Professors of Eastern Religion and Ethics
• Recipients of the Padma Bhushan in literature & education
• Indian non-fiction writers
• Indian male non-fiction writers
• Indian educators
• Indian editors
• Indian magazine editors
• 20th-century Indian non-fiction writers
• 20th-century Indian writers
• 20th-century Indian male writers
• 20th-century Indian philosophers
• 20th-century Indian educators
• 20th-century Indian scholars
• People from Jaynagar Majilpur
• People from South 24 Parganas district
• West Bengal academics
• Scholars from West Bengal
• Indian emigrants to the United Kingdom
• British Sanskrit scholars
• British logicians
• 20th-century British philosophers
• Indian scholars of ancient philosophy

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