The Pratyabhijñā system of thought is part of what is called Kashmir Śaivism, a name applied to nondualist forms of Śaivism that flourished approximately between the ninth and thirteenth centuries in Kashmir and other parts of northern India but also elsewhere. The importance of the Pratyabhijñā in nondualist Śaivism is underscored by the fact that Mādhava (fourteenth century), in the Sarvadarśanasaṃ-graha, a classical work on Indian religious and philosophical systems, describes this school as Pratyabhijñā. The doctrine was first formulated systematically by Somānanda (ninth century?) in his Śivadṛṣṭi, then by his disciple Utpaladeva in the Īśvarapratyabhijñākārikā (Verses on the Recognition of God) and in a subsequent commentary (Vṛtti) on them. It was further elaborated by Abhinavagupta (tenth to eleventh century) in two important commentaries, the Īśvara-pratyabhijñā Vimarśinī and the Īśvarapratyabhijñā Vivṛtti-vimarśin...