Śatakatraya

The ''Śatakatraya'' ( sa, शतकत्रय, lit=The Three Satakas), (also known as , ) refers to three Indian collections of Sanskrit poetry, containing a hundred verses each. The three '' śataka's are known as the , , and , and are attributed to Bhartṛhari.

The three ''Śataka''s

Indian scholar K. M. Joglekar in his translation work 'Bhartrihari: Niti and Vairagya Shatakas' says that, "The Shatakas were composed when Bhartrihari had renounced the world. It is not easy to say in what order they were written, from the subject matter of each of them, it is likely that Shringarashatak was written first, then followed the Niti and lastly the Vairagyashataka".

The ''Nītiśataka'' deals with ''nīti'', roughly meaning ethics and morality. ''Śṛṅgāraśataka'' deals with love and women. ''Vairāgyaśataka'' contains verses on renunciation. The Sanskrit scholar Barbara Stoler Miller translated these sections as ''Among Fools and Kings'', ''Passionate Encounters'' and ''Refuge in the Forest'' respectively.

Especially in the ''Vairāgyaśataka'', but also in the other two, his poetry displays the depth and intensity of his renunciation as he vacillates between the pursuits of fleshly desires and those of the spirit. Thus it reveals the conflict experienced "between a profound attraction to sensual beauty and the yearning for liberation from it", showing how "most great Indian art could be at once so sensuous and so spiritual".Miller, Foreword and Introduction

There is great variation between versions of his Śatakas, and together the available manuscripts have over 700 verses instead of 300. D. D. Kosambi identified about 200 verses that appear in all manuscripts. Despite the variation in content, there is remarkable similarity in theme; Kosambi believes that each ''śataka'' came to attract a certain type of stanza similar to the ones present in the original collection. Moreover, at least among the 200 "common" stanzas, there is a distinctive voice of irony, scepticism and discontent, making the attribution to a single author plausible.

According to one legend associated with him (possibly in confusion with the legend of king Bharthari), he was a king, who once gave a magic fruit to his wife, who gave it to another man, who in turn gave it to another woman, and finally it reached the king again. Reflecting on these events, he realised the futility of love and worldly pleasures, renounced his kingdom, retired to the forest, and wrote poetry. This is connected with a famous verse that appears in the collections:

However, the verse is probably a later addition, and many of the other verses suggest that the poet was not a king but a courtier serving a king — thus there are many verses rebuking the foolish pride of kings, and bemoaning the indignity of servitude.

Nītiśataka

The Sanskrit scholar and commentator Budhendra has classified the Nītiśhataka into the following sections, each called a ''paddhati'':
* mūrkha-paddhati – On Fools and Folly
* vidvat-paddhati – On Wisdom
* māna-śaurya-paddhati – On Pride and Heroism
* artha-paddhati – On Wealth
* durjana-paddhati – On Wicked People
* sujana-paddhati – On Wise Men
* paropakāra-paddhati – On Virtue
* dhairya-paddhati - On Firmness, Valor
* daiva-paddhati – On Fate
* karma-paddhati – On Work

; Some verses from Nītiśataka

संगीतसाहित्यकलाविहीनः
साक्षात् पशुःपुच्छविषाणहीनः ,
तृणं नखादन्नपिजीवमानः
तद्भागधेयंपरमंपशूनाम् , ,

saṅgīta-sāhitya-kalā-vihīnaḥ
sākṣāt paśuḥ puccha-viṣāṇa-hīnaḥ ,
tṛṇaṃ na khādann api jīvamānaḥ
tad bhāgadhēyaṃ paramaṃ paśūnām , ,

This verse means that a human devoid of poetry, music and arts is equivalent to an animal which does not have horns and tails.It is the great good luck of other beasts that they don't graze grass, and still survive.

Editions of the Śatakatraya

Without translation

* . Includes detailed notes in English.
* . With Sanskrit commentary by the author.
* . With Sanskrit commentary by the author.
* 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.
Review
by Emeneau. Digitized by th
Digital Library of India
* D. D. Kosambi, 1959 ''Bhartrihari's Satakatrayam With the Oldest Commentary of Jain Scholar Dhanasāragaṇi With Principal Variants from Many Manuscripts etc.'' (Bombay, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan). Digitized by th
Digital Library of India

Sanskrit with translation

* . Sanskrit text with introduction, translation and notes in Latin. All three ''śataka''s, also includes Bilhana's Chaura-panchashika.
* . Hindi and English translation.
*

Translation and notes.
*
* . Reprinted as ''Nīti and Vairāgya Śatakas of '', Motilal Banarsidass, . Brief commentary in Sanskrit, translation and notes in English.
* . Sanskrit text with facing free-verse translation.
* Greg Bailey and Richard F. Gombrich, 2005, ''Love Lyrics by Amaru ndBhartṛhari, translated by Greg Bailey & by Bilhaṇa edited and translated by Richard Gombrich'' (New York: NYU)
See: Open Library
. Sanskrit text with facing free-verse translation.

Translation

(without Sanskrit text)
*

German verse translation of all three ''śataka''s, based on Bohlen's edition.
* . French prose translation of all three ''śataka''s.
*

Rhyming translation of the Nīti and Vairāgya Śatakas.
* J M Kennedy,
The Satakas; or, Wise sayings of Bhartrihari
'. London, 1913. Prose translation of all three ''śataka''s.
*

London: Trübner, 1886, reprint Routledge 2000, . Prose translation of the Nīti and Vairāgya Śatakas.
*

Rhyming translation of 100 verses, mostly from Bhartṛhari.
* . Rhyming translation of 85 verses from Bhartṛhari, plus 15 from other sources.
*
* . Republished 1998 by the Sri Aurobindo Society,
Available online
in Volume 5 (Translations) of his complete works. Verse translation of the Nīti Śataka.
*

References

External links

; About Bhartṛhari

On Bhartṛhari
by Greg Bailey, Clay Sanskrit Library translator



; The poems
* ttp://www.sub.uni-goettingen.de/ebene_1/fiindolo/gretil/1_sanskr/5_poetry/5_subhas/bharst_u.htm Transliterated Sanskrit textof all shatakas at GRETIL

Ṣrṇgārashatakam by Bhartṛhari
at Sanskrit Documents Collection

Vairāgyashatakam by Bhartṛhari
at Sanskrit Documents Collection

Nītishatakam by Bhartṛhari
at Sanskrit Documents Collection


in English
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Satakatraya
Sanskrit poetry
5th-century works