Bhartṛhari (
Devanagari
Devanagari ( ; in script: , , ) is an Indic script used in the Indian subcontinent. It is a left-to-right abugida (a type of segmental Writing systems#Segmental systems: alphabets, writing system), based on the ancient ''Brāhmī script, Brā ...
: ; Bhartrihari;
fl. c. 5th century CE), was an Indian-
Hindu
Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...
linguistic
Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...
philosopher and poet, known for his contributions to the fields of linguistics, grammar, and philosophy. He is believed to have been born in the 5th century in
Ujjain
Ujjain (, , old name Avantika, ) or Ujjayinī 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 as well as religious centre of Ujjain ...
, Malwa, India. He decided to live a monastic life and find a higher meaning but was unable to detach from worldly life. He lived as a yogi in Ujjain until his death.
He is best known for his works, the ''
Vākyapadīya'' (a treatise on sentences and words), ''Mahābhāṣyatikā'' (a commentary on Patanjali's ''Mahabhashya''), ''Vākyapadīyavṛtti'' (a commentary on ''Vākyapadīya kāṇḍas'' 1 and 2), ''Śabdadhātusamīkṣā'', and the 300-verse collection ''Śatakatraya''.
Bhartrhari's philosophy is marked by the concept of "Shabda-Brahman", that the ultimate reality is expressed through words. He posited that language and cognition are linked and that by understanding grammar one can attain spiritual liberation.
Bhartrhari's works have been studied in various Indian philosophical traditions, including
Vedanta
''Vedanta'' (; , ), also known as ''Uttara Mīmāṃsā'', is one of the six orthodox (Āstika and nāstika, ''āstika'') traditions of Hindu philosophy and textual exegesis. The word ''Vedanta'' means 'conclusion of the Vedas', and encompa ...
and
Mimamsa. Islamic and Western scholars have also shown interest through various translations and commentaries. In the field of Indian poetics, Bhartrhari's ''Śatakatraya'' continues to be revered and studied and has been translated into many languages, affording access to a global audience.
Life and background
Bhartrhari is believed to have been born in
Ujjain
Ujjain (, , old name Avantika, ) or Ujjayinī 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 as well as religious centre of Ujjain ...
,
Malwa
Malwa () is a historical region, historical list of regions in India, region of west-central India occupying a plateau of volcanic origin. Geologically, the Malwa Plateau generally refers to the volcanic plateau, volcanic upland north of the ...
, India and lived in the 5th century.
Details of his personal life are not known, but it is assumed, and accepted by scholars, that he lived between 485 and 540 CE.
He was associated with the court of Valabhi (modern Vala,
Gujarat
Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...
) but decided to follow the path of Indian sages and renounced a sensual life to find higher meaning.
He attempted to live a monastic life but was unable to successfully detach from worldly pleasures. After some time, he lived a life as a yogi in Ujjain till his death.
Siṃhasūrigaṇi, a 6th-century
Jain writer, states that Bhartrhari studied under a grammarian named Vasurāta.
Bhartrhari credits some of his theories to Vasurāta in his work the
Vakyapadiya.
The Chinese traveller
Yi-Jing (635-713 CE) mentions Bhartrhari in his travel notes. He claims that Bhartrhari was a
Buddhist
Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...
and wrote the works ''Vakyapadiya'', ''Peina'', and a commentary on
Patanjali
Patanjali (, , ; also called Gonardiya or Gonikaputra) was the name of one or more author(s), mystic(s) and philosopher(s) in ancient India. His name is recorded as an author and compiler of a number of Sanskrit works. The greatest of these a ...
's
Mahabhashya
''Mahabhashya'' (, IAST: '','' , "Great Commentary"), attributed to Patañjali, is a commentary on selected rules of Sanskrit grammar from Pāṇini's treatise, the ''Aṣṭādhyāyī'', as well as Kātyāyana's ''Vārttika-sūtra'', an elab ...
. Researchers have found some of the details given by Yi-Jing to be erroneous, specifically the time period that he was alive and that he was a Buddhist.
Bhartrhari's philosophical position is widely held to be an offshoot of the
Vyākaraṇa or grammarian school, closely allied to the
realism of the
Nyaya
Nyāya (Sanskrit: न्यायः, IAST: nyāyaḥ), literally meaning "justice", "rules", "method" or "judgment", is one of the six orthodox (Āstika) schools of Hindu philosophy. Nyāya's most significant contributions to Indian philosophy ...
s and distinctly opposed to Buddhist positions such as those of
Dignaga, who was closer to
phenomenalism
In metaphysics, phenomenalism is the view that physical objects cannot justifiably be said to exist as " things-in-themselves", but only as perceptual phenomena or sensory stimuli (e.g. redness, hardness, softness, sweetness, etc.) situated in t ...
.
[
]
Philosophical contributions
Bhartrhari is known for his work in the philosophy of language, particularly his theories articulated in the ''Vākyapadīya'' ("Treatise on Sentences and Words"). This text is a comprehensive study of grammar and its metaphysical foundations. Bhartrhari's philosophy is marked by the concept of "Shabda-Brahman", which holds that the ultimate reality is expressed through words. He posited that language and cognition are linked and that by understanding grammar one can attain spiritual liberation.
Works
Bhartrhari is best known for his work in the philosophy of language. He wrote four books on grammar (vyākaraṇa):
Vākyapadīya, Mahābhāṣyatikā (an early sub-commentary on Patanjali's
Vyākaraṇa-Mahābhāṣya), Vākyapadīyavṛtti (commentary on ''Vākyapadīya kāṇḍas'' 1 and 2), and Śabdadhātusamīkṣā.
[Extensively used by later grammarians such as Kaiyaṭa, the text is only preserved in fragments. An edition based on an incomplete manuscript was published by Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Pune (1985-1991), in six fascicles (fascicle 6 in two parts).] As a poet, he also wrote the ''Śatakatraya'', or ''Śataka'', a three-part collection of 300 verses.
Vākyapadīya
The ''Vākyapadīya'', also known as ''
Trikāṇḍī'' (three books), is an Indian linguistic treatise on the philosophy of language, grammar, and semantics. It is divided into 3 main sections (or kāṇḍa): ''Brahma-kāṇḍa'' (Book of Brahman), ''Vākya-kāṇḍa'' (Book of Sentences), and ''Pada-kāṇḍa'' (Book of Words), and contains about 635 verses. The ''Brahma-kāṇḍa'' treats the metaphysical aspects of language. The ''Vākya-kāṇḍa'' deals with sentence structure and the relationship between its components. The ''Pada-kāṇḍa'' focuses on the meaning of words, phonetics, morphology, and semantics.
Bhartrhari's philosophy is centred around the concept of "''
sphoṭa
(, ; "bursting, opening", "spurt") is an important concept in the Indian grammatical tradition of Vyakarana, relating to the problem of speech production, how the mind orders linguistic units into coherent discourse and meaning.
The theory of ' ...
''". He believed that ''sphoṭa'' carries the meaning of the word(s) and is revealed to the listener upon hearing the word(s).
Unlike Patanjali, Bhatrihari applies the term
''sphoṭa'' to each element of the utterance, ''varṇa'' (''varṇasphoṭa;'' the letter or syllable), ''pada'' (''padasphoṭa;'' the word), and ''vākya'' (''vākyasphoṭa;'' the sentence).
Mahābhāṣyatikā
The ''Mahābhāṣyatikā'', also known as ''Tripadi'' or ''Mahabhashyadipika'', is a commentary on
Patanjali's ''
Mahabhashya
''Mahabhashya'' (, IAST: '','' , "Great Commentary"), attributed to Patañjali, is a commentary on selected rules of Sanskrit grammar from Pāṇini's treatise, the ''Aṣṭādhyāyī'', as well as Kātyāyana's ''Vārttika-sūtra'', an elab ...
'', which itself is a commentary on
Pāṇini's ''
Aṣṭādhyāyī
The (; ) is a grammar text that describes a form of the Sanskrit language.
Authored by the ancient Sanskrit scholar Pāṇini and dated to around 6th c. bce, 6-5th c.BCE and 4th c.BCE, it describes the language as current in his time, specifica ...
''. Bhartrhari analyses grammatical rules and explores the metaphysical and epistemological aspects of language. Within this text, Bhartrhari also discusses the connection between words and their meanings, which is further elaborated in the ''Vākyapadīya.'' This text is studied by Sanskrit grammarians and philosophers.
Śatakatraya
The ''Śatakatraya'' ("Three Centuries": ''śataka,'' "century"; ''traya,'' "three") consists of three collections of 100 verses each. The collections are ''Niti Śataka'' (Ethics, which details principles of righteous living)''
, Śringara Śataka'' (Love, which details the complexities of love and relationships), ''and
Vairagya
Vairāgya () is a Sanskrit term used in Hindu as well as Eastern philosophy that roughly translates as dispassion, detachment, or renunciation, in particular renunciation from the pains and pleasures in the temporary material world. The Hindu p ...
Śataka'' (Detachment, a reflection of Bhartrhari's renunciation)''.'' The date of composition is unknown but it is believed to have been written over the course of Bhartrhari's life. Bhartrhari uses various poetic devices including metaphors, similes, and paradoxes to convey complex ideas.
Influence and legacy
Bhartrhari's works have been studied in various Indian philosophical traditions, including
Vedanta
''Vedanta'' (; , ), also known as ''Uttara Mīmāṃsā'', is one of the six orthodox (Āstika and nāstika, ''āstika'') traditions of Hindu philosophy and textual exegesis. The word ''Vedanta'' means 'conclusion of the Vedas', and encompa ...
and
Mimamsa. Islamic and Western scholars have also shown interest through various translations and commentaries.
In the field of Indian poetics, Bhartrhari's ''Śatakatraya'' continues to be revered and studied.
The ''Śatakatraya'' has been translated into many languages, affording access to a global audience.
Further reading
*
B. K. Matilal, 1990, ''The Word and the World: India's Contribution to the Study of Language''. Delhi: Oxford University Press. p. 129-130.
*Hemanta Kumar Ganguli, "Theory of Logical Construction and Solution of some Logical Paradoxes", appendix to ''Philosophy of Logical Construction: An Examination of Logical Atomism and Logical Positivism in the light of the Philosophies of Bhartrhari, Dharmakirti and Prajnakaragupta'', Calcutta, 1963.
*Jan E.M. Houben, ''The Sambandha-samuddeśa (chapter on relation) and Bhartrhari's philosophy of language'', Gonda Indological Series, 2. Groningen: Egbert Forsten, 1995, pp. 213–219.
References
External links
Bhartrihari (c. 450—510 C.E.) in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy*
"Tracking the Hermit's Soul: A Jungian Reading Of Bhartrihari's Satakatraya" by Mathew V. Spano
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bhartrhari
Sanskrit grammarians
Sanskrit poets
Indian male poets
Ancient Sanskrit grammarians
5th-century Indian poets
Indian Sanskrit scholars
5th-century Hindus