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________________ BHATKHARI AND DINNAGA * By H. R. RANGASWAMY IYENGAR. The date of the great grammarian Bhartshari, author of the Vakyapadiya, 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 Vakyapadiya, the-commentary on the Mahabhastya and another work, Peina, (which may perhaps be the Prakirna Kanda or the third and last chapter of the Vakyapadiya), 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 Vakypadiya 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 Kanda of the Vakyapadiya, while describing how the science of grammar, which had been almost extinct, was restored and propagated by the great grammarians, Chandra and Vasurata, Punyaraja, the commentator of the Vakyapadiya, mentions several times Vasurata as the teacher of Bhartphari. In the Karika 490 of the Vakyapadiya Bhartshari himself seems to refer to his teacher Vasurata by, 'Guruna' 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 Sanskrit literature." * Ibid pp. LVII and pp. 178-180. 3 See.--I-tsing and Bhartshari's Vakyapadiya ; By Dr. C. Kunhan Raja contributed to the Krishnaswamy Iyengar Memorial Volume. (pp. 285-298). See the comment of Punyaraja on Karika 486 of Kanda II :- A TEHETTIFT Taalal matgru : fafc outufahameg fyri afar I See Ibid II. 489 : kenacicca brahmarakSasAnIya candrAcAryavasurAtaguruprabhRtInAM datta iti| tai: khalu yathAvat vyAkaraNasya svarupaM tata upalabhya satataM ca ziSyANAM vyAkhyAya bahuzAkhitvaM nItI vistaraM prApita ityanuzrUya 5 cf. II. 4900:- at TSUITERTHYATTE: 1 * Read at the 15th Session of the All India Oriental Conference. pita ityanuzrUyate /
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________________ 148 H. R. RANGASWAMY IYENGAR pudin the set the Upadhes that of Punyaraja prefaced to the verse. Again a Jaina writer Simhasurigani, who may be assigned to the beginning of the 6th century A.D., in his unpublished work, Nayacakratika,? a commentary on the Nayacakra of Mallavadin the senior 8, which is not now extent, mentions, twice in his work, Vasurata as the Upadhyaya of Bhartshari. This confirms the statement of Punyaraja and establishes that Vasurata 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 Paramartha, Vasurata 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 Vasurata, Chandra, and Vasubadhu should be regarded as contemporaries and Bhartshari, the pupil of Vasurata, assigned to the 5th century A.D. Another important piece of evidence, which I have discovered in my study of the Pramana Samuccaya of Dinnaga, lends support to this view. In the fifth chapter of this work, which is devoted to the exposition of the Apoha theory of Dirnaga, 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 vAtsalyAt praNIta iti svaracitasya granthasya gurupUrvakamabhidhAtumAha I am deeply grateful to Sri Jambu Vijayaswami, Talegaon-(Poona) for kindly lending a manuscript copy of this important work for my study. 9 Mallavadin, author of Dvadasaranayacakra should be distinguished from another Jaina writer of the same name who is the author of Nyayabindutika-Tippanu. . cf. Nayacakratika folio 272a so'bhijalpo'bhidheyArthaparigrAhI bAhyAcchabdAdanya iti bhrtRhryaadimtm| vasurAtasya bhartRhayupABUURT 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 Karikas may be restored into Sanskrit as : 1) bindau ca samudAye ca vAcaka : salilAdiSu / saMkhyApramANasaMsthAnanirapekSa : prvrtte| 2) saMsthAnavarNAvayavaiviziSTa yaH pryujyte| zabdo na tasyAvayave prvRttiruplbhyte| Toyd softhe samadin, 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 kecita pradhAnamaMzeSu vartatebhitahariNA ukta salilAdiSviti. Adizabdena pRthivyAdInAM prigrhH|