Bharatthari, also known as Jogi Sant" Bharthari, in many parts of

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, is the hero of many

folk stories Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging fro ...

North India North India is a loosely defined region consisting of the northern part of India. The dominant geographical features of North India are the Indo-Gangetic Plain and the Himalayas, which demarcate the region from the Tibetan Plateau and Central ...

. He was the ruler of

Ujjain Ujjain (, Hindustani pronunciation: �d͡ːʒɛːn is a city in Ujjain district of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It is the fifth-largest city in Madhya Pradesh by population and is the administrative centre of Ujjain district and Ujjai ...

, before renouncing the world and abdicating in the favor of his younger brother

Vikramaditya Vikramaditya (IAST: ') was a legendary king who has been featured in hundreds of traditional stories including those in ''Baital Pachisi'' and '' Singhasan Battisi''. Many describe him as ruler with his capital at Ujjain (Pataliputra or Prati ...

. Stories of Bharthari and his nephew King Gopi Chand of Bengal, who are considered Nath panth

yogi A yogi is a practitioner of Yoga, including a sannyasin or practitioner of meditation in Indian religions.A. K. Banerjea (2014), ''Philosophy of Gorakhnath with Goraksha-Vacana-Sangraha'', Motilal Banarsidass, , pp. xxiii, 297-299, 331 Th ...

s, abound in the

Indian folklore The folklore of India encompasses the folklore of the nation of India and the Indian subcontinent. India is an ethnically and religiously diverse country. Given this diversity, it is difficult to generalize the vast folklore of India as a unit. ...

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern si ...

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprisin ...

Haryana Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land ar ...

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Ben ...

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 195 ...

Chhattisgarh Chhattisgarh (, ) is a landlocked state in Central India. It is the ninth largest state by area, and with a population of roughly 30 million, the seventeenth most populous. It borders seven states – Uttar Pradesh to the north, Madhya Prades ...

and

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fou ...

. Many of the details about the lives of Bharthari and his brother

are from the tales of ''

Baital Pachisi ''Vetala Panchavimshati'' ( sa, वेतालपञ्चविंशति, IAST: ) or ''Betaal Pachisi'' ("''Twenty-five (tales) of Betaal''"), is a collection of tales and legends within a frame story, from India. It is also known as intern ...

'' (Twenty five tales of Baital), translated as 'Vikram and The Vampire' by

Sir Richard Francis Burton Sir Richard Francis Burton (; 19 March 1821 – 20 October 1890) was a British explorer, writer, orientalist scholar,and soldier. He was famed for his travels and explorations in Asia, Africa, and the Americas, as well as his extraordinary kn ...

in 1870.

Folklore

Bhartari was the elder son of King Gandharva Sena, who received the kingdom of

from The celestial god

Indra Indra (; Sanskrit: इन्द्र) is the king of the devas (god-like deities) and Svarga (heaven) in Hindu mythology. He is associated with the sky, lightning, weather, thunder, storms, rains, river flows, and war. volumes/ref> In ...

and the King of Dhara.Introduction
Vikram and The Vampire by

Richard Francis Burton Sir Richard Francis Burton (; 19 March 1821 – 20 October 1890) was a British explorer, writer, orientalist scholar,and soldier. He was famed for his travels and explorations in Asia, Africa, and the Americas, as well as his extraordinary kn ...

, 1870. When Bhartrhari was king of 'Ujjayani' (modern day

), there lived a Brahman who got the fruit of immortality from the celestial wish granting tree, Kalpavriksha, as a result of long austerity. He decided to offer it to King Bhartrhari. The king wanted his beloved queen, Pinglah or Ananga Sena (as per Maha Kavi Kalidas), to be youthful, and thus gifted her the fruit. Raja Bhartrhari's last and youngest wife. However, the queen had a secret love affair with army chief Mahipaala, she desired him to be immortal and the enchanted fruit was given to him, he in turn passed it to his beloved, 'Lakha' the head mistress. Eventually, the fruit returned to the king. Having completed the circle, the fruit revealed the downsides of infidelity to the king, he summoned the queen and ordered her beheading, and ate the fruit himself. After that he

abdicated Abdication is the act of formally relinquishing monarchical authority. Abdications have played various roles in the succession procedures of monarchies. While some cultures have viewed abdication as an extreme abandonment of duty, in other societ ...

the throne, to his younger brother

, and became a religious mendicant. He later became a disciple of

Pattinathar Pattinathar () is a name identified with two different Tamil individuals, one of 10th century AD and another of 14th century AD. 10th century Pattinathar The 10th century AD Pattinathar was a poet whose five works are included in the sacred Sha ...

(Swetharanyar or Pattinathu chettiyar is poorvashram name of this saint from Poompuhar,Tamil Nadu) who first indulged in an argument about samsari and sanyasi with king Bhartrhari later during the conversation pattinathar said that all women have 'dual mind' and it might be the true case even with parameswari. King conveyed this news to rani Pingalah and she ordered Pattinathar to get punished and to sit in 'kalu maram' (Tree, whose top portion would be sharpened like a pencil and whole tree is fully painted with oil, person who are allowed to sit in the top will split into 2 pieces), they tried pattinathar but kalu maram started burning and nothing happened to Pattinathar, the king came to know this news and went directly to Pattinathar and asked him to get ready to die the next day, but Pattinathar replied i'm ready even now to die. The next day king came with tears in his eyes and released saint from jail because he actually noticed queen pingalah in love with horsemen that night, He threw away his empire, wealth, even his full dress coat and dressed in a simple kovanam (loin cloth). The king became a disciple of Pattinathar and got mukthi (salvation) in the

Kalahasthi Srikalahasti Temple is located in the town of Srikalahasti, in Tirupati district in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India. It is one of the most famous Shiva temples in South India, and is said to be the site where Kannappa was ready to offer bo ...

temple. King Bharthari, or Bhadhragiri (as he is called in popular Tamil folk culture) wrote a collection of Tamil poetic verses called Meignana Pulambal. There is a very famous song sung by the bards of

in the memory of Raja Bhartrhari. The story says that Queen Pingala and Raja Bhartrhari did not have a son and the queen was very sad as a result of that. A saint came to the door of their palace one day and asked for alms. When Rani Pinglaa went down to give him alms, he said, "I know you are sad and I have brought some holy water for you. If you drink this water with faith, you will have a son in twelve months' time." Rani Pingala had the water and as promised by the ''Yogi'', she had a son after twelve months. There is one more very interesting story related to Raja Bhartrhari and Rani Pingla. It is said that Raja Bhartrhari was out for a hunt one day and he saw a woman jump into the pyre of her husband (

Sati Sati or SATI may refer to: Entertainment * ''Sati'' (film), a 1989 Bengali film by Aparna Sen and starring Shabana Azmi * ''Sati'' (novel), a 1990 novel by Christopher Pike * Sati (singer) (born 1976), Lithuanian singer *Sati, a character in ''T ...

) as her grief would not let her stay alive. Raja Bhartrhari was moved and this incident stayed in his mind. When he returned to his palace, he told the story to Rani Pingala and asked her if she would do the same. Rani Pingala said that she would die on hearing the news itself and there would be no chance of her staying alive until the funeral ceremony. Raja Bhartrhari decided to test her and went on a hunt once again and sent the news of his death back to the palace. The Mahaaraani died on hearing the news as she had promised and Raja Bhrithari was grief-stricken. Guru

Gorakhnath Gorakhnath (also known as Goraksanath, c. early 11th century) was a Hindu yogi, saint who was the influential founder of the Nath Hindu monastic movement in India He is considered one of the two notable disciples of Matsyendranath. His follower ...

heard about the grief of the King and came to help him overcome his grief. It is said that Guru

created 750 copies of Rani Pingala to demonstrate the illusory nature of the world to Raja Bhartrhari. Even though Rani Pingala was brought back to life, Raja Bharthari decided to renounce the world and became a follower of Guru

. He became a very famous saint and is also known as ''Sant'' Bhartrhari by the people of

. Bhratahari is famous in

Alwar Alwar (Pronunciation: �lʋəɾ is a city located in India's National Capital Region and the administrative headquarters of Alwar District in the state of Rajasthan. It is located 150 km south of Delhi and 150 km north of Jaipur. A ...

of Rajasthan. Ashtami is the worship day celebrated as a festival. The fair of bhratahari is grouped by lakhs of people of Alwar, Jaipur, Dausa near Sariska in Alwar.

In cinema

* Raja Bharthari (1973) - Gujrati * Rajyogi Bharthari (1954) - Hindi * Bhartrahari (1944) - Hindi * Bhartruhari (1944) - HindiBhartrahari (1944)
www.imdb.com. * Raja Bharthari (1932) - Hindi * Bhartruhari (1922) - Silent

In popular culture

Raja Bharthari appears as a minor character in Neil Gaiman's '' The Sandman: Worlds' End'', and '' The Sandman: The Wake''.

Literary works

* Vairagya-Satakam * Vākyapadīya *

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 attribut ...

References

* ''Bharthari: A Chhattisgarhi Oral Epic'' by Nandkishore Tiwari, Arvind Macwan, and H. U. Khan. 2002,

Sahitya Akademi The Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, is an organisation dedicated to the promotion of literature in the languages of India. Founded on 12 March 1954, it is supported by, though independent of, the Indian government. Its of ...

. . * ''A Carnival of Parting: The Tales of King Bharthari and King Gopi Chand'' as Sung and Told by Madhu Natisar Nath of Ghatiyali, Rajasthan by Ann Grodzins Gold. Berkeley, 1993, University of California Press. ,

* ''Bharthari and the Buddhists'' by Radhika Herzberger. 1986, Springer. {{ISBN, 90-277-2250-1.

External links

An original manuscript about Raja GopiChand in Gurmukhi Script on Panjab Digital Library
Indian folklore People from Ujjain Navnath