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{{Short description|Sanskrit scholar}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2017}}
{{Use Indian English|date=April 2017}}
'''Neelakantha Chaturdhara''' ({{lang-sa|नीलकण्ठ चतुर्धर}}, [[IAST]]: ''Nīlakaṇṭha Caturdhara'') (also referred as '''Neelakantha Chaturdhar''') was a scholar who lived in [[Varanasi]] in the later half of the 17th century, famous for his commentary on the [[Mahabharata]].<ref name=scene>[http://users.ox.ac.uk/~ball2185 Minkowski], Nīlakaṇṭha and the Vedāntic ‘Scene’ in Banaras</ref>

== Life ==
As with most scholars of pre-modern India, little is known of his life. He was from a [[Marathi language|Marathi]]-speaking [[Deshastha Brahmin|Deshastha Rigvedi Brahmin]] family that had been established in a town on the banks of the river [[Godavari]]. He moved to Varanasi, where he studied "Veda and [[Vedanga]], Mimamsa, Srauta, Yoga, Saiva texts, Tarka, and especially Advaita Vedanta" from several teachers, before beginning his literary career.<ref name=ncm>[[Christopher Minkowski]], [https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Nilakantha+Caturdhara%27s+Mantrakasikhanda.-a092409260 Nīlakaṇṭha Caturdhara's Mantrakāśīkhaṇḍa], The Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol 122, No 2 (April 2002), pp. 329–344 {{doi|10.2307/3087628}} {{jstor|3087628}}</ref> His teachers and mentors at Varanasi, which was then a hub of śāstric learning,<ref name=scene/> included his guru referred to him as Lakṣmaṇārya, and [[Narayana Teertha|Nārāyaṇa Tīrtha]].<ref name=scene/> His Vedanta writings were influenced by [[Madhusūdana Sarasvatī]], [[Nṛsiṃhāśrama]], and [[Appayya Dīkṣita]].<ref name=scene/>
Nilakantha had also composed a commentary on the [[Devi Bhagavata Purana]]

== Mahabharata commentary ==
[[File:महाभारत नीलकंठी टीका सहित.jpg|thumb|MAHABHARATA with ''Bhāratabhāvadīpa'' by Nilakantha Chaturdhara]]

His commentary, ''Bhāratabhāvadīpa'', is the only one that is widely used in Sanskrit studies today.<ref name=seminar/><ref>Christopher Minkowski, "[https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=qcq22n9NT7sC&pg=RA1-PA225 On the Success of Nilakantha's Commentary]". [http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pollock/sks/papers/index.html Abstract]</ref> His commentary was from the viewpoint of Advaita Vedānta.<ref name=scene/>

The first English-language translation of the Mahabharata, by the scholarly [[Kisari Mohan Ganguli]], acknowledges the influence of Nilakantha's commentary.<ref>[http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m01/m01001.htm Translator's Preface]</ref>
The [[Clay Sanskrit Library]]'s project of translating the Mahabharata used the version known to Nilakantha rather than the [[critical edition]].<ref>[http://www.claysanskritlibrary.org/faq.php Clay Sanskrit Library FAQ]</ref>

In the recent past, he "has been maligned without warrant" by modern scholars, but his "understandings underlie more than a little of what is in the English language renderings of the epic."<ref>James L. Fitzgerald, [http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Sanskrit_in_Classics_at_Brown/Mahabharata/MBh2Biblio.html Bibliography]</ref>

==References==

{{reflist|refs=
<ref name=seminar>Minkowski 2010</ref>
}}

==Further reading==
*[http://www.india-seminar.com/2010/608/608_c_minkowski.htm Nilakantha’s Mahābhārata] by Christopher Minkowski, ''India Seminar'' No. 608 (April 2010).

==External links==
*{{Commonscatinline}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Chaturdhara, Neelakantha}}
[[Category:Indian Sanskrit scholars]]
[[Category:Mahabharata]]
[[Category:Year of death unknown]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:17th-century Indian scholars]]
[[Category:Scholars from Varanasi]]

Neelakantha Chaturdhara - Revision history

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