Bhartṛhari

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For 1st century AD, Sanskrit poet, see Bhrithari

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Bhartṛhari is the name of a 6th or 7th century Sanskrit grammarian, and of a Sanskrit poet Bhrithari, who was the elder brother of King Vikramaditya of Ujjain (1st century BC), and who abdicated his throne for his younger brother after renouncing the world [1]. It is not known whether the two are identical.

Contents

[edit] The Grammarian

Bhartṛhari was an early figure in Indic linguistic theory, mentioned in the 670s by Chinese traveller Yi-Jing, author of the Vākyapadīya ("of the speaking of words"). The work is divided into three books, the Brahma-kāṇḍa, (or Âgama-samuccaya "aggregation of doctrines"), the Vâkya-kāṇḍa, and the Pada-kāṇḍa (or Prakîrṇaka "miscellaneous").

He theorized the act of speech as being made up of three stages:

  1. Conceptualization by the speaker (Paśyanti "idea")
  2. Performance of speaking (Madhyamā "medium)
  3. Comprehension by the interpreter (Vaikharī "complete utterance").

Bhartṛhari is of the shabda-advaita "word monistic" school which identifies language and cognition. He introduces the Sphota doctrine of meaning. According to George Cardona, "Vakyapadiya is considered to be the major Indian work of its time on grammar, semantics and philosophy."

[edit] The Poet

Bhartṛhari was a philosopher-poet of the fifth century A.D. and the author of a legendary tripartite work of Sanskrit poems known as the Satakatraya.

In popular legend he was a king who, after learning of his wife's infidelity, renounced society and retired to the solitary life of an ascetic. His poetry displays the depth and intensity of his renunciation as he vacillates between the pursuits of fleshly desires and those of the spirit. This is most evident in the Vairagyasataka, the third and final section of the Satakatraya, which is translated by Sanskrit scholar Barbara Stoler Miller as Refuge in the Forest. The first and second sections are the Nitisataka or Among Fools and Kings and the Srngarasataka or Passionate Encounters.

[edit] Editions

Grammar
  • Wilhelm Rau, Bhartṛharis Vākyapadīya / die mūlakārikās nach den Handschriften hrsg. und mit einem pāda-Index versehen, Wiesbaden : Steiner, 1977, Abhandlungen für die Kunde des Morgenlandes 42,4
  • Wilhelm Rau, Bhartṛharis Vākyapadīya II : Text der Palmblatt-Handschrift Trivandrum S.N. 532 (= A), Stuttgart : Steiner, 1991, Abhandlungen der Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaftlichen Klasse, Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur Nr. 7, ISBN 3-515-06001-4
Poetry
  • M.R. Kāle Nīti and Vairāgya Śatakas of Bhartṛhari, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 81-208-0642-5
  • B. Hale, The Śatakas of Bhartṛihari, London : Trübner, 1886, repring Routledge 2000, ISBN 0-415-24510-9

[edit] References

  • K. Raghavan Pillai (trans.), Bhartrihari. The Vâkyapadîya, Critical texts of Cantos I and II with English Translation Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1971.
  • Coward, Harold G., The Sphota Theory of Language: A Philosophical Analysis, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1980.
  • Herzberger, Radhika, Bhartrihari and the Buddhists, Dordrecht: D. Reidel/Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1986.
  • Houben, Jan E.M., The Sambanda Samuddesha and Bhartrihari's Philosophy of Language, Groningen: Egbert Forsten, 1995.
  • Iyer, Subramania, K.A., Bhartrihari. A Study of Vâkyapadîya in the Light of Ancient Commentaries, Poona: Deccan College Postgraduate Research Institute, 1969, reprint 1997.
  • Shah, K.J., "Bhartrihari and Wittgenstein" in Perspectives on the Philosophy of Meaning (Vol. I, No. 1. New Delhi.)1/1 (1990): 80-95.
  • Saroja Bhate, Johannes Bronkhorst (eds.), Bhartṛhari - philosopher and grammarian : proceedings of the First International Conference on Bhartṛhari, University of Poona, January 6-8, 1992, Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, 1997, ISBN 81-208-1198-4
  • Patnaik, Tandra, Śabda : a study of Bhartrhari’s philosophy of language, New Delhi : DK Printworld, 1994, ISBN 81-246-0028-7.
  • Maria Piera Candotti, Interprétations du discours métalinguistique : la fortune du sūtra A 1 1 68 chez Patañjali et Bhartṛhari, Kykéion studi e testi. 1, Scienze delle religioni, Firenze University Press, 2006, Diss. Univ. Lausanne, 2004, ISBN 978-88-8453-452-1

[edit] External links