Bhartṛhari

For legendary king and brother of Vikramaditya, see Bharthari.

Bhartṛhari is the name of a 6th or 7th century Sanskrit grammarian, and of a Sanskrit poet of roughly the same period.

The Grammarian

Further information: Sphoṭa

Bhartṛhari was an early figure in Indic linguistic theory, mentioned in the 670s by Chinese traveller Yi-Jing, author of the Vākyapadīya ("About Words and Sentences"). The work is divided into three books, the Brahma-kāṇḍa, (or Āgama-samuccaya "aggregation of traditions"), the Vākya-kāṇḍa, and the Pada-kāṇḍa (or Prakīrṇaka "miscellaneous").

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

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

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

The Poet

Further information: Bharthari

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 Śatakatraya.

In popular legend, he is identified with Bhartṛhari, 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 Vairāgyaśataka, the third and final section of the Śatakatraya, which is translated by Sanskrit scholar Barbara Stoler Miller as Refuge in the Forest. The first and second sections are the Nītśataka or Among Fools and Kings and the Śṛṅgāraśataka or Passionate Encounters.

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
• Saroja Bhate, Word index to the Vākyapadīya of Bhartr̥hari, together with the complete text of the Vākyapadīya (Delhi: Eastern Book Linkers, 1992.) ISBN 10: 8185133549 Open Library

Poetry

• Greg Bailey and Richard F. Gombrich, 2005, Love Lyrics by Amaru [and] Bhartṛhari, translated by Greg Bailey & by Bilhaṇa edited and translated by Richard Gombrich (New York: NYU). See: Open Library ISBN 10: 0814799388
• D. D. Kosambi, 1945 The Satakatrayam of Bhartrhari with the Comm. of Ramarsi, edited in collaboration with Pt. K. V. Krishnamoorthi Sharma (Anandasrama Sanskrit Series, No.127, Poona)
• D. D. Kosambi, 1946 The Southern Archetype of Epigrams Ascribed to Bhartrhari (Bharatiya Vidya Series 9, Bombay) (First critical edition of a Bhartrhari recension.)
• D. D. Kosambi, 1948 The Epigrams Attributed to Bhartrhari (Singhi Jain Series 23, Bombay) (Comprehensive edition of the poet's work remarkable for rigorous standards of text criticism.)
• 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, reprint Routledge 2000, ISBN 0-415-24510-9

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

External links

• Bhartṛhari at Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
• Bhartṛhari's poems in English
• Bhartṛhari's poems with English translation and more.
• Shatakatrayam (All three shatakas transliterated)
• Bhartṛhari on Poetry Portal
• Ṣrṇgārashatakam by Bhartṛhari at Sanskrit Documents Collection
• Vairāgyashatakam by Bhartṛhari at Sanskrit Documents Collection
• Nītishatakam by Bhartṛhari at Sanskrit Documents Collection