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BHATĶHARI AND DINNĀGA *
By H. R. RANGASWAMY IYENGAR.
The date of the great grammarian Bhartshari, author of the Vākyapadiya, which is regarded as a landmark in the literary history of India in as much as it forms the basis for determining the dates of several sanckrit authors, has been determined so far on the statements of Itsing in his, "Record of Buddhist religion". The Chinese traveller has recorded that Bharthari was a great grammarian, whose fame had spread all over India, that he was the author of the three works Vákyapadiya, the-commentary on the Mahābhāștya and another work, Peina, (which may perhaps be the Prakirna Kanda or the third and last chapter of the Vākyapadiya), and that he died in about 650 A.D. i.e., forty years before the date of his record. The accuracy with which Itsing has reported other contemporary events as well as about the extent of the Vākypadiya itself has led scholars to assign Bhartphari to the seventh century A.D.
. But new evidences which have come to licht, completely falsify the statement of Itsing and push back the date of Bhartshari to the 5th century A.D.'
In the second Kānda of the Vākyapadiya, while describing how the science of grammar, which had been almost extinct, was restored and propagated by the great grammarians, Chandra and Vasurāta, Punyarāja, the commentator of the Vakyapadiya, mentions several times Vasurăta as the teacher of Bhartphari. In the Karika 490 of the Vākyapadiya Bhartshari himself seems to refer to his teacher Vasurāta by, 'Guruņā' as is evident from the words
1. Cf. "A Record of the Buddhist Religion,” by I-tsing translated into English by J. Takakusu. p. xv
"The most important of all the dates given by I-tsing are those of Bhartphari, Jayaditya, and their contemporaries. They serve as a rallying-point for a number of literary men belonging to what I called the 'Renaissance period of Sańskrit literature."
• Ibid pp. LVII and pp. 178-180.
3 See.--I-tsing and Bhartshari's Väkyapadiya ; By Dr. C. Kunhan Raja contributed to the Krishnaswamy Iyengar Memorial Volume. (pp. 285-298).
See the comment of Punyarāja on Kārikā 486 of Kānda II :- A TEHETTIFT Taalal matgru : fafc outufahameg fyri afar I See Ibid II. 489 :
केनचिच्च ब्रह्मरक्षसानीय चन्द्राचार्यवसुरातगुरुप्रभृतीनां दत्त इति। तै: खलु यथावत् व्याकरणस्य स्वरुपं तत उपलभ्य सततं च शिष्याणां व्याख्याय बहुशाखित्वं नीती विस्तरं प्रापित इत्यनुश्रूय
5 cf. II. 4900:- at TSUITERTHYATTE: 1 * Read at the 15th Session of the All India Oriental Conference.
पित इत्यनुश्रूयते ।
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148
H. R. RANGASWAMY IYENGAR
pudin the set the Upadhes that
of Punyarāja prefaced to the verse. Again a Jaina writer Simhasūrigani, who may be assigned to the beginning of the 6th century A.D., in his unpublished work, Nayacakratīka,? a commentary on the Nayacakra of Mallavådin the senior 8, which is not now extent, mentions, twice in his work, Vasurāta as the Upadhyāya of Bhartshari. This confirms the statement of Punyarāja and establishes that Vasurāta was a great grammarian of the day under whom Bhartshari studied and that Bhartphari often held views quite different from those of his master.
and tha
According to Paramārtha, Vasurāta was a brahmin and brother-in-law of Baladitya, a pupil of Vasubandhu.10 He was well-versed in grammar. He defeated Vasubandhu, through the intervention of Chandra, another great grammarian. This means that Vasurāta, Chandra, and Vasubadhu should be regarded as contemporaries and Bhartshari, the pupil of Vasurāta, assigned to the 5th century A.D.
Another important piece of evidence, which I have discovered in my study of the Pramāna Samuccaya of Dinnāga, lends support to this view. In the fifth chapter of this work, which is devoted to the exposition of the Apoha theory of Dirnāga, the following two Karikas are found, which may be rendered into Sanskrit l as given below.
Thigs-pa-dan. ni. tshogs. pa-yi, chu. sogs. rnams, la. rjod byed-ni 1 grans dan. tshad. dan. dbyibs. rnams la ltos. pa. med. par. I jug. par. byed 11 deyibs. dan. kha, dog. yan. lag. rnams khyad. par can. la. gan. I jug. pa. de. yi. yantag. la sgra-ni
rah tu. I jug. la. dun asma yin. o cf. : Ibid :- 371 Ciftet faeru T a TAME&UTT HATTHITH : HT वात्सल्यात् प्रणीत इति स्वरचितस्य ग्रन्थस्य गुरुपूर्वकमभिधातुमाह
I am deeply grateful to Sri Jambu Vijayaswami, Talegaon-(Poona) for kindly lending a manuscript copy of this important work for my study.
9 Mallavādin, author of Dvadasāranayacakra should be distinguished from another Jaina writer of the same name who is the author of Nyayabindutika-Tippanü.
. cf. Nayacakratīkā folio 272a
सोऽभिजल्पोऽभिधेयार्थपरिग्राही बाह्याच्छब्दादन्य इति भर्तृहर्यादिमतम्। वसुरातस्य भर्तृहयुपाBUURT HET T...
cf. Ibid folio 277a- gal at affecitHETI TERTET: H OTEUR :....
10 cf. "A study of Paramartha's life of Vasubandhu and the Date of Vasubandhu" by J. Takakusu J. R. A. S. 1905. pp. 33ff. 11 The two Kärikäs may be restored into Sanskrit as :
1) बिन्दौ च समुदाये च वाचक : सलिलादिषु । संख्याप्रमाणसंस्थाननिरपेक्ष : प्रवर्तते। 2) संस्थानवर्णावयवैविशिष्ट यः प्रयुज्यते। शब्दो न तस्यावयवे प्रवृत्तिरुपलभ्यते।
Toyd
softhe samådin, authmportanti Jambu
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________________ BHATRHARI AND DINNAGA 149 They are only Tibetan renderings of the two Karikas occuring in the second Kanda of the Vakyapadiya of Bhartphari.12 This means that either Dinnaga took the Karikas from Bhartshari's work or both Dinnaga and Bhartphari took them from quite a different work. But there is no evidence to support the latter alternative. We learn from Jinendra-Buddhi, author of Visalamalatika on 13 the Pramana Samuccayavitti of Dinnaga, that Dinnaga is here referring to the views of Bhartshari. This evidently supports the former alternative that Dinnaga is quoting from Bhartphari. Now if Dinnaga, a famous Buddhist logician of the 5th century A.D. quotes from the Vakyapadiya, how can we assign Bhartphari to the 7th century A.D.? We have only to conclude that Bhartphari, the author of the Vakyapadiya lived in the 5th century A.D. and that the statement of Itsing that Bhartshari died some forty years before the date of his record is incorrect. 13 cf. Karikas. II. 160 and 157.-Benares. Edition. pp. 144-145. 13 cf. Visalamalatika : Mdo. re folio 33lb. line 6ff : Kha. cig. tu gtso. bor. cha tshas rnams la. 'jug. te 1 bha. rite. ha. ris. yis smras. pa l cha. sogs. rnams la zes pai sogs pai sgras. sa la. sogs pa. yois su gzun io. 1 केचित प्रधानमंशेषु वर्ततेभितहरिणा उक्त सलिलादिष्विति. आदिशब्देन पृथिव्यादीनां परिग्रहः।