Rev. John Vattanky SJ (3 July 1931- 22 February 2021) was a Jesuit priest, belonging to Kerala province, in India. An Indian philosopher, specializing in Gangesa's Navya-Nyāya, he resided at De Nobili College, Pune. Vattanky was a Professor Emeritus of Jnana-Deepa Vidyapeeth, Pune, India. He has contributed significantly to the growth of Indian philosophy and Indian Christian Theology.
His book on Nyaya Theism has been well appreciated and acclaimed. His work on Gangesa, was favourably commented on by Kanchi Sankaracharya.
His Life and Work
Professor John Vattanky was born at Palakkattumala, Kottayam in Kerala on 3 July 1931. After his high school studies (in which he stood first in the school) and after preliminary studies in the classics at the Papal Seminary, Kandy, Sri Lanka, he entered the Society of Jesus in 1950. During the course of his studies in the Society of Jesus, he gained a licentiate in Philosophy (1957) and another licentiate in Theology (1964). He was ordained priest in 1963. Then in 1966, he began his specialization in Oriental Philosophies and Religion, at the University of Oxford, England from where he took his M.A. in Oriental Studies with his optionals as Sanskrit and Pali. He went on to University of Vienna to do his doctorate specializing in Indian philosophy. After his Ph.D. (1974), he was in Trivandrum, Kerala, organizing a Research Centre in Indian Philosophy and Religion.
During this time, he has published several scholarly research articles in standard research journals both in India and abroad. His major book, Gangesa's Philosophy of God was published in 1984 by the Adyar Research Library, Madras and has won the admiration of scholars as well as the award of all India Philosophical Association.
Then he moved on to Jnana-Deepa Vidyapeeth in Pune where he was teaching classical Indian philosophy and Sanskrit. During this time he also developed the Centre for Advanced Indian Studies and continued his researches. He also lectured in various universities in India and abroad. Many times he was visiting professor of Indian philosophy at the Hochschule fuer Philosophie, Munich, Germany.
He has also presented papers at various conferences, national and international. Thus in 1974, he presented a paper at All India Oriental Conference, Kurukshetra; in 1978, gave papers at the University of Kerala and in Sanskrit College, Trippunithara, Kerala; in 1982, he presented a paper at the Faculty of Theology, University of Passau, Germany and at the International Conference on Buddhist studies at Oxford. In 1984, he presented a paper at the International Conference on Comparative Philosophy at Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.A. In 1985, he presented a paper at All India Philosophical Conference, Hyderabad. In 1986, he presented papers at the University of Munich, at the Oriental Institute, University of Oxford, to the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Texas, Austin, U.S.A., and to the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Washington, U.S.A. In the same year, he was one of the main speakers at the seminar on the Nyaya System of Indian philosophy at New Delhi. In 1987, he presented a paper to the Faculty of Humanities at Thammasat University, Bangkok. In the same year he was a visiting professor at Santa Clara University, U.S.; he also gave a lecture on 'The Analytical Tradition in Indian Philosophy' to the Faculty of Philosophy of the same university.