Love or Leave Bhartuharis Dilemma

Author(s): Ashok Aklujkar
Publisher: ZZ_Anusandhan
Catalog link: https://jainqq.org/explore/269099/1

Page #1
LOVE OR LEAVE ? BHARTR-HARI'S (?) DILEMMA* * Ashok Aklujkar 31.1 The first question mark in the title of this paper signals that I intend to discuss a situation in which a difficult decision is to be made -- a situation in which there are disadvantages and losses, no matter how one decides. What I wish to indicate with the second question mark is that the question I am raising about loving and leaving is not Bhartr-hari's (abbreviated to "BH" hereinafter, except in citations) dilemma alone -- that there is a universality to Another clarification I should offer at the outset is that I assume that the following observation is valid: We set up dichotomies and then we find them too constraining, distorting of misleading. After entertaining them for a while -- not without profit --- we feel the need to transcend them. In the spirit of this observation, I wish to ask : what happens when an author well-known for his depiction of srngara shows an undercurrent of vairagya and when the same author, equally well-known for leading a march of tanks of vairagya, finds that the ground under his tanks is mined by the fifthcolumnists of srngara ?! Tam grateful to Professors Albrecht Wezler (University of Hamburg) and Gregory M, Bailey (La Trobe University) for helping me in catching typographical errors in an earlier version of the present contribution, origanally written for the "Seminar on Shanagara and Sringara" organised by Dr. Harsha V. Dehejia at Mumbai on 21-23 December 1998. The Gujarati word shanagara (which would be sanagara/sangar in scholarly transliteration and which is cognate with Marathi singaru Hindi singara etc.) used in the title of the seminar is historically the same as Sanskrit sngaru. However, it has acquired the distinctive sense of physical embellishment. hody decoration, ornamentation, make-up.' This fact should be kept in mind while reading the following lcxt.

Page #2
FLET7-89. 2 $1.2 The question just elucidated can be asked in terms of the theory of srngara rasa or santa rasa. Is the development of either rasa precluded or hampered by the intrusion of the signs of the other ? What exactly is the aesthetic process - assuming there is one - in compostions that refer to physical beauty or points of attraction but use them to urge renunciation ?? What would be the ultimate effect of a poem that, when read one way, depicted srngam and, when read another way, spoke of vairagya?? However, I am not going to ask my question at such a theoretical and generalized level, because the insightful discussions of rasa-vighnas in the Sanskrit tradition address it to a significant extent, because in the examples I have seen (note 2) the ultimate impact is cleary one (that of vairaga or a feeling conducive to vairagya), and not mixed or intertwined, and because in the examples I can thing of (note 3) I cannot see how the development of syngara and vairagya can be anything but parallel, that is, again not intertwined. I will rather ask my question at a more concrete and paricular level -- that of considering srngara('physical love', 'feeling or sentiment of love', 'aesthetic, especially literary, experience of love') and sanagara('ornaments, decoration, make-up'; see note*) together. $ 2.1 Given the realities of the present philological research, any talk about BH as an author must start with an acknowledgement of three personae: two almost exclusively from written literature and one largely from oral literature. The latter is not confined to Sanskrit, but is best preserved in Sanskrit sources deriving their material from legends and folktales that seem to have been current in many languages and dialects of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharastra, if not of other parts of India. This is predominantly the leaving B' persona. He is either disillusioned by the unfaithfullness of his wife or is cured of his illusion by

Page #3
anusaMdhAna - 17* 3 Goraksa-natha* after an unparalleled demonstration of devotion by his wife. As a consequence, he gives up the life of gilded royal luxury and embraces the naturally adorned existence of a mendicant's life. Whether this BH is identical with either of the two Bs known to us from the literary remains generally titled (a) Sataka-trya and (b) the Vakyapadiya and the Mahabhasya-tika is a question that has so far defied a convincing solution. Those who, rightly, notice a recurrent pessimism and disillusionment in the Satakatraya naturally feel that the third renouncing BH is at least more likely to be the author of the Sataka-traya stanzas (cf. Kale 1971:iv; Jinavijaya 1959:8). On the other hand, the scholars who are aware of the mention by I-ching," a Chinese scholar who travelled through many parts of India in the late seventh century, that the author of the Trikandi or Vakyapadiya and Mahabhasya-tika was a Buddhist monk (at least for a singnificant length of time) are more likely to accept that the 'monk-disciple-of-Gorakhnath' persona could have developed out of an earlier 'Buddhist monk' persona. SS 2.2 The situation is made more complicated by the fact that the name of the Sataka-traya author could have been "Bhartr-hara" instead of "Bhartr-hari" (Kosambi 1948:Introduction, pp. 20, 22, 23; Jinavijaya 1959: 9-10) and that there is a remarkable similarity of attitude and a remarkable nearness in time and space between the Satakatraya author and the Vaiyakarana or Grammarian BH. The difference of name would suggest that the poet BH and the Vaiyakarana BH were two different historical persons, albeit in a weak way, for a corruption of "hari" to "hara" can easily and independently occur in manuscripts.' On the other hand, the similarity of attitude is at such a fundamental level that it seems improbable that there could

Page #4
31HET-89.4 have been two authors with the same attitude and capable of giving forceful expression to that attutude in easy-flowing verses in just about the same area of India in the early centuries of the Christian Era. The research on BH, the Vaiyakarana, has established beyond any reasonable doubt that some important details in I-ching's account cannot be correct. The Vaiyakarana BH is unlikely to be a Buddhist and is unlikely to have died forty years before I-ching's visit to India (691-692 A.D.). Rather, he cannot be later than 450 A.D. Also, while he was sympathetic toward and accommodative of Buddism, he was not a follower of Buddhism in the usual or 'strong sense of the word. His place of residence is more likely to be those parts of western India in which the adherents of the Maitrayaniya branch of Krsna Yajurveda were found in significant numbers. Now, through a systematic investigation of an impressive number of Sataka-traya manuscripts, D.D. Kosambi (1948:56-57, 59, 78-79, 81) has independently suggested that the stanzas constituting the oldest core of the Satakatraya could have been composed in the early centuries of the Christian Era (although they were collected as an anthology some centuries later), that there could be one author persona behind them, and that this persona is likely to have hailed from western India. SS 2. 3 The similarity in fundamental attitude to which I have referred can be described thus: a relentless pursuit of the meaning of life, devastating honesty, ability to rise above conventional boundaries and antinomies, repeated return to perspectivism and a never-ending engagement with the manifestations of language.' BH, the poet, is very probably the most translated author next to the author(s) of the Gita (Bailey 1994:1) Modern Europe's interest in Sanskrit literature (as distinct from Sanskrit language) began

Page #5
anusaMdhAna - 17*5 with a Latin translation published in 1651 and based on what the Dutch Missionary Abraham Roger heard of the Sataka-traya stanzas from a south Indian Brahmin named Padmanabha. BH's poems are the only extensive body of classical Sanskrit literature that have a more than reasonable chance of antedating the works of Kalidasa. "In reading him, one is reminded of Omar Khayyam more than once by the poignant and novel expression that the unavoidable questions regarding 'life death,' 'permanence inpermanence' etc. receive. However, at the same time one feels that he has more varied capabilities than Khayyam. BH could have enriched the poetic conventions and techniques that the tradition made available to him, as well as set the pattern for the conventions and techniques that we find in later authors." All these considerations establish that he has a universal appeal that very few literary personalities can command. Practically, the same thing, with differend detains, will probably have to be said about BH, the Grammarian, in the next one hundred years or so (depending on how much interest the philosophy departments at Western universities take in non-Western philosophers.) He has anticipated the linguistic turn taken by Western philosophy in the 20th century in such a basic and comprehensive way, although his major aim was not to give such a turn to philosophy, that he will, if properly presented, force a rewriting of the global history of philosophy. Thus, taking some risk, I will speak of a single revolutionary and legendary linguistico-literary as well as religio-philosophical persona called BH, born a few decades or centuries before or after the beginning of the Christian Era and ask what we learn from his Sataka-traya about sanagara. 31 In the legends about BH, we have a mirroring of most of the qualities I have ascribed to him so far. He loves the day-to-day world but leaves it suddenly. He epitomizes

Page #6
31THYTT-810.6 the ordinary man's (frequently unarticulated) bond with the beautiful in this life and also with the fear that one day this beauty will no longer be his. After he leaves the runof-the-mill world, he has moments of spiritual delight and self-assurance but he also realises how strong the pull toward the beauty spots, visayas, of this life is. Now, there is not much that could be said to be unique or unusual in this tension. Spiritual leaders are constantly telling us to think of what comes after the pleasant sensual experiences, as well as of what a razor's edge the path one takes to transcend them is. Of the great literatures of the world, Sanskrit literature is particularly rich in this respect (which fact, in turn, explains its perennial appeal to some extent). What sets BH apart is the clarity with which he faces the dilemma of loving and leaving, the varied expression he gives to it, the tradition he has obviously created or strengthened unlike anyone else, and the heart-rending honesty with which he gives expression to his trials and tribulations. l-ching tells us that BH became a monk seven times and that each time he separated himself from the monks as soon as he realised that improper thoughts had begun to dominate his mind." This uncompromising nature of his pursuit is seen also in his description of sensual pleasures and of worldly systematic (sastra) knowledge. He wants the real, unalloyed, full 'stuff and he makes no effort to conceal or qualify his failures and limitations. I am not aware of any other Sanskrit poet in whose case we come so close to believing that a personal experience is finding expression in his compositions (cf. Miller 1967:xvii-xviii; 1990:6.)14 $ 3.2 At least 5 stanzas of the 200 that Kosambi collects first as found in all versions of the Sataka-traya (nos. 81, 84, 85, 88. 135) speak of what I have called the basic dilemma of life' as one would speak of a dilemma -- that

Page #7
31LHET-84.7 is, with the requisite explicitness of antithesis. At least 4 stanzas out of the 152 that Kosambi collects next (nos. 222, 223, 224, 257) do the same. I do not think we need any additional proof to ascertain that BH recognized the dilemma for what it is and that the dilemma weighed heavily with him.' We come across lines such as the following, for example: satyam jana vacmi, na paksa-patat, lokesu saptasy api tathyam etat / nanyam manohari nitambinibhyo duhkhaika-hetur na ca kascid anyah 1181//? "I do indeed speak without bias, this is acknowledged as truth among men: Nothing enthralls us like an ample-hipped woman; nothing else causes such pain." (Miller 1967:63 = 1990:60). kim iha bahubhir uktair yukti-sunyaih pralapair dvayam iha purusanam sarvada sevaniyam / abhinavu-mada-lila-lalasam sundarinam stana-bhara-parikhinnam yauvanam va vanam va //85/1 "Why all these words and empty prattle ? Only two worlds are worth a man's devotion: the youth of beautiful women wearied by heavy breasts and full of fresh wine's excitement, or the forest." (Miller 1990:61.)18 avasah kriyatam gange papa-varini varini / stana-madhye larunya va mano-harini harini // 135 // "Rest yourself on a shore of the Ganges whose waters ward off sin, or between the breasts of a maid

Page #8
3 -p19.8 whose necklace snares the mind." (Miller 1967:99 - 1990:78) Similar in vein is the following poem which finds itself on the outskirts of the 200 having the best chance to be BH's genuine compositions but which has a vary strong chance of being authentic in terms of the versions in which it is attested as well as the way it expresses a disturbingly poignant thought: eko ragisu rajate priyatama-dehardha-hari haro niragesu jino vimukta-lalana-sango na yasmat parah / durvara-smara-bana-pannaga-visa-vyasanga-mugdho janah sesah kama-vidambito hi visayan bhoktun na moktum ksamah 112241/ Here, the poet in effect tells us this: If it is to be love or songara, it should be so absolute as in the Ardha-narisvara Siva, leaving no room for the duality of the lover and the loved. It it is to be detachment, it should be so firm as to rival that of Siva. Unfortunately, neither seems to be within the reach of human beings. They seem to be condemned to an in between state of poison-filled delirium." $ 3.3 The varied and forceful expression of the dilemma, regarding which I just gave evidence, is accompnied by a very straightforward, no-holds-barred, expression of personal frustrations and failures in overcoming desire or craving (stanza nos. 102, 147, 149, 155, 158, 160, 176, 185), on the one hand, and an honest expression of (at least moments or degrees of) success (stanza nos. 6, 187, and possibl stanza nos. 291, 301, 308, 344), on the other. Thus, for example: bhoga na bhukta, vayum era bhuktas. tapo . na taptam, vavam eva taptah / kalo na vato, vuyam eva varas.

Page #9
3FRHET-819.9 tlsna na jirna, vayam eva jirnah // 155 // I did not consume. I was consumed. 20 I did not scorch the pleasure-seeker. I was scorched. 21 Time did not go away. I went away.22 Craving did not wither. I withered.23 bhiksasanan, tad api nirasam eka-varum, sayya sa bhuh, parijano nija-deha-matram / vastram ca jirna-sata-khandamayi ca kantha, ha ha tathapi visaya na parityajanti //158 // "Begging for food, I eat one tasteless meal a day. The earth is my bed. These four limbs are my only companions. I wear a tattered old cloak patched together from hundreds of rags. Ah! Ah! Still this thirst for pleasure won's abandon me !! (Cort 1983:24) yadasid ajnanan smara-timira-samskara-janita tada drstam narimayam idam asesam jagad api idanim asmakam patutara-vivekanjanajusam samibhuta destis tri-bhuvanam api brahma manute24 116 // "When I was ignorant . under the influence of passion's darkness, I saw everything in the entire world as woman. Now that I have the salve of superior discernment, my vision, restored, 25

Page #10
3IHA-919. 10 sees all the three worlds as nothing but brahman."26 $3.4 On the other side of the intensity seen here is an uncompromising expectation regarding what an ideal sensual experience should be like : agre gitam, sarasa-kavayah parsvato daksinatyah, prsthe lila-valaya-raaitam camara-grahininam / yady asty evam kuru bhava-rasasvadane lampatatvan, no cec, cetah, pravisa sahasa nirvikalpe samadhau 1l 183 // "A song is going on in the front. On the sides are seated southern poets, masters of literary effect. At the back are heard the jingling bracelets of the fanning maids. If it is a set-up like this, go ahead and enjoy the delights of the world ! But if not, o my mind, plunge at once into a uniform state of meditation."27 $3.5 Now, what could be the nature of the psychological association with sanagara of a man who is so clearly conscious of the two diametrically opposite forces working on his mind and who is so honest, open, articulate, and intense in speaking about them ? I think we could learn something valuable about him and his society if we catch him unawares -- while he is struglling with something so fundamental to his existence and is unaware that we are observing him not for his message but what the carriers of his message are. The process would be similar to what good researchers de in determining authorship on the basis of stylistic-statistical considerations. In such studies. what really matter are not

Page #11
BETHETA-80 * 11 the denotative or referential words, especially the common vocabulary or the technical jargon of the field (important though they are), but the particles etc. A clever person can imitate the common vocabulary and technical jargon, but while he is busy doing that his 'slip in terms of particles and syntax is likely to show. Now, if with this methodological 'detective consideration in mind, we study BH's poems, we find that the references to ornaments are surprisingly far and few in between. Also, they are restricted to mukta 'pearls,' mukta-jala 'pearl strings', mostly 'necklaces,' divyambara or pratanu vasana 'fine garment', kundala 'earring,' kankuna or lila-valaya 'bracelet,' keyura 'arm ornament, haru 'necklace,' mekhala or kanci 'girdle, waistband,' and nupura 'anklet (stanzas 7, 21, 76, 80, 97, 117, 139, 147, 183, 326, 326, 349). Further, a preference for natural ornaments is seen (e.g., stanzas 54, 134, 349, 144, 297, indirectly also 141) as in Kalidasa. For example, in a poem reminiscent of Omar Khayyam's most well-known rubai, "Here with a loaf of bread beneath the bough, a flask of wine, a book of verse---- and thou beside me singing in the wilderness -- and wilderness is paradise now."28 BH says: malati sirasi jrmbhanonmukhi, candanam vapusi kunkumavilam / vaksasi priyatama mudalasa, svarga esu parisista agatah 1/116/1 "White Jasmine about to bloom in her hair; sandal paste mixed with saffron on her body; my dearest one, languorous in her intoxicating youth,

Page #12
3ITHYA-89.12 resting on my chest! This is nothing but heaven paying me a visit. "29 These highly selective references to ornaments, in turn, agree with the predilection the author shows for certain parts of the female body; e.g., breasts and hips, as in; vacasi bhavati sango-tyagam uddisya vartta sruta-mukhara-mukhanam kevalam panditanam / jaghanam aruna-ratna-granthi-kanci-kalapan kuvalaya-nayananan ko vihatum samarthah //147// "Talk about renunciation of attachments only occurs in the speech of learned men whose mouths are eloquent with learning. Who can forake the hip, girdled with knots of rubies, of lotus-eyed women ?" (Bailey 1994:17) A well-integrated poetic personality thus emerges -- one that has its definite preference points or eye-catchers, which are common and easy to notice but which imply that the living and the moving are more important than the artificial and the unresponsive. $3.6 When the preceding observation is conveyed to him a historian with an interest in material culture may conclude that the references to artificial physical ornaments are sparse and general - there are not many specific words denoting variety in the categories of necklaces, anklets etc.-- probably because not many ornaments of the artificial physical type were known. A sholar specialising in the sociolinguistics of ancient India may conclude that the references tend to be general because Sanskrit in BH's time was a literary language not frequently employed to speak of objects of the everyday

Page #13
31H -89 * 13 give-and-take. However, I think a conclusion of another kind is more justified in the present situation. BH makes it a point in several stanzas (nos. 41, 54, 72, 76, 90) to play down the value of physical ornamentation. This is accomplished sometimes by simply suggesting that the physical ornaments have no role to play, sometimes by contrasting a physical ornament with an abstract quality and sometimes by juxtaposing one abstract quality with another abstract quality, as the following three poems will show : vaktram candra-vidambi, pankaja-parihasa-ksame locane, varnah svarnam apakarisnur, alini-jisnuh kacayam cayah / vaksojav ibha-kumbha-vibhramaharau, gurvi nitamba-sthali vacam hari ca mardavam, yuvatisu svabhavikam mandanam 1/90/1 "A face to rival the moon, eyes that make mockery of lotuses, complexion eclipsing gold's luster. thick tresses that shame the black bee, breasts like elephant's swelling temples, heavy hips, a voice enchanting and softThe adornment in maidens is natural." (Miller 1990:63) srotram srutenaiva, na kundalena, danena panir, na iu kankanena / vibhati kayah karuna-paranam paropakarena, nu candanena /154/1 "The ear of a compassionate man is graced by the scroptures, not by pendants:

Page #14
3FRIETT-919. 14 his hand by bounty, not by bracelets; his body by benevolence, not by sandal paste." (Miller 1990:51)32 aisvaryasya vibhusanam sujanata, sauryasya vak-samyamo jnanasyopasamah, samasya vinayo, vittasya patre vyayah| akrodhas tapasah, ksama prabhavitur, dharmasya nirvyajata sarvesam api sarva-karanam idam silam param bhusanam 1/41// "Kindness is an ornament for power, restrained speech for valor, dispassion for wisdom, discipline for tranquility, munificence for wealth, forebearance for austerity, patience for majesty, and candor for duty - but moral conduct, the cause of all, is a gem that crowns the rest." (Miller 1990:45) Also, when BH describes a situation that he obviously values in the area of sensual experiences, relatively abstract achievements of culture almost always enter the scene in a very natural way. Without poetry, music or display of sharp erudition, nothing is really enjoyable to him. In another stanza reminding us of Omar Khayyam's rubai quoted in $3.5, he says : avasah kilakimcitasya davita parsve vilasalasa, karne kokila-kamini-kala-ravah, smero lata-mandupuh / For Dr

Page #15
3PTAUT-810 * 15 gosthi sat-kavibhih samam kutipayair, mugdhah sitassoh karah kesancit sukhayanti catra hrdayam caitre vicitrah srajah //138/1 "By the side is the beloved, an abode of love's articulations, relaxing after the fun. The sweetly indistinct cooing of the cuckoo is approaching the ear. The bower of creepers is coming to life. Ralaxed talk with select masters of poetry is going on. The bright rays of the moon are hanging around, as if mesmerized. And, in such a Spring, garlands of many a sort are gladdening the hearts of the few fortunate ones. " 33 Similar to the preceding in integrating culture with nature is : ramayas candra-maricayas trnavati ramya vananta-sthali ramyam sadhu-samagamagama-sukham, kavyesu rumyah kathah / . kopopahita-baspa-bindu-taralam ramyam priyaya mukham, sarvan ramyan, anityatam upagate citte na kimcil punah //19311 "Attractive are the rays of the moon. Attractive is the grassy ground in the woods. Attractive is the pleasure of good company. Attractive are the stories told in poetry. Attractive is the beloved's face

Page #16
3TTH -849.16 with its shimmering of tears of anger. Yes, everything is attractive. But once the mind has sensed impermanence, nothing, nothing is the same. " 34 Further, it is noteworthy that in the rare instances in which BH refers to physical ornaments the ornament itself never acts as his direct stimulant. It is either the body parts (stanza 97, 102, 119, 131, 146) or the glance which functions in this capacity (stanza nos. 79, 80, 92, 262, 282). 36 Now, glance in such contexts implies convention, the ability to grasp much on the basis of a momentary movement of a small part of the body -- in short, unarticulated but subtle and cultured communication. That is the level at which the attractive things of the world ensnare our poet : smitena bhavena ca lajjaya dhiya paran-mukhair ardha-kataksa-viksitaih / vacobhir irsya-kalahena lilaya, sumasta-bhavaih khalu bandhanam striyah 1/79// "With smiles, affection, modesty, and art; hostile looks and ardent glances; eloquence, jealous quarrels, and play? with all her emotions woman enchains us." (Miller 1990:59) bhru-caturyakuncitaksah kalaksah snigdha vacu lajjitantas ca hasah / lila-mandam prasthitam ca sthitam ca strinam etad bhusunam cayudham ca 1/92/1 "Side glances with eyes curved by the dexterity of brows, affectionate words, laughs ending in coyness, playful languor, whether moving or still -

Page #17
37919-89.17 this is both ornament and weapon of woman."}} Obviously, BH presupposes a society in which the language of the eyes is pretty and is pretty well-developed. Thus, I do not think that one can simply opt for a materialistic or sociolinguistic explanation and put aside the possibility of a philosophy of high culture or aesthetics. On the contrary, the way the poet presupposes the participation of his readers in the individual instances for examples of his way of looking at things leaves no doubt that such aesthetics was not just ideosyncretic or personal. It must have been a dominant way of thinking in the cirlcles in which he was brought up and moved." $3.7 There is another aspect of ornamentation in the Satakatraya that belongs to a different sphere and could even be considered paradoxical or contrary. While the author is grappling with very fundamental problems of human existence and is forthright and original, his stanzas frequently come out like well-chiselled idols.40 if a statement approaching the force of a slogan or a manifesto is to be made, the metres chosen remind us of cascades, as in matsaryam utsarya vicarya karyam aryah samaryadam idam vadantu / . sevya nitambah kimu bhudharanam uta smara-smera-vilasininam //84/1 "Cut off all envy, examine the matter, tell us decisively, you noble men. which we ought to attend upon: the sloping sides of wilderness mountains or the buttocks of women abounding in passin?" (Miller 1967:65 = Miler 1990:61)

Page #18
31YHET-810 * 18 Compare with this the leisurely and sonorous movement of : urasi nipatitanam srasta-dhammilakanan mukulita-nayananam kimcid-unmilitanam upari-surata-kheda-svinna-ganda-sthalinam adhara-madhu vadhunam bhagyavantah pibanti //123/1 "She is lying on the chest. The braid of her hair has come loose. Her eyes are buds, half-closed half-open. She has relaxed, just a little. Her young cheeks are wet with the sweat brought by the fatigue of making love like a man. The honey of the lips of such a woman, only the blessed ones get to drink."$42 As the same stanzas illustrate, alliteration and symmetrical phrasing are also found. Rarely indeed does a meaning unit step beyond a pada unit or a cesura. The effect created is frequently that of a highly proportionate Ardha-narisvara statue. Does this not introduce artificiality in the composition and indicate that the poet is not as spontaneous as we would expect him to be if we wish admire his honesty of sentiment and forthrightness of expression ? Besides, are there not stanzas in the Sataka-traya that appear to be the poet's experiments with the same theme (e.g, compare no. 79 with nos. 89, 92, 93)?. Due weight must be attached to these questions. However, we should also bear in mind that what seems artificial or forced to one person can be very easy and natural to another. Most of the alliteration and symmetry in the Sataka-traya

Page #19
3/THE-89 * 19 is morphology-based (cf. stanza nos. 210, 236, 264, 324, etc.). If the author was a grammarian who spent years and years exploring relationships between forms, he could easily utilize his knowledge to create the features we have identified -- as if no deliberate effort was involved. In fact, he does not even have to be a grammarian. The pre-modern Indian educational system usually gave such a strong foundation in grammar even to those who later specialized in fields other than grammar that toying with the morphology of the language became their second nature. Furthermore, we should entertain the possibility that BH might not have edited his compositions to ensure that they contained no repetition or that only the best of stanzas with similar content were retained. This is especially likely to be the case if worldly recognition carried little value for him. He could have composed spontaneously on his favourite themes at different places and just left the compositions for posterity to collect and edit if it wished to do so. Thirdly, exploring the possibilities of language could have been some kind of Yoga for him. Just as a superior Brahmin did not perform the Agni-hotra simply to ensure safe passage for the Sun43 but also as a mental discipline for himself - to cultivate restraint and patience (to keep his blood-pressure down, if you will) or to nourish the spirit of karma-yoga in him, our poet might have worked steadily at thought, language, metres etc. to develop his concentration and to practice a silpa-yoga in the relatively ethereal mediuin of language. Foot-oton 1. Even a non-specialist of the field is lell this to be a feature of the poems of BH. Wm. Theodore de Bary. in his Foreword to Miller 1967, writed : "The poetry attributed in Bharirihari does so conceive of the Indian people that is, as very worldly and very world. renouncingl. but reveals also the conflict they experience between

Page #20
anusaMdhAna - 17*20 a profound attraction to sensual beauty and the yearning for liberation from it. In a classic style and refined language, Bhartrihari shows how creative the tension between these opposing lives could be. And not in these lives alone for they help us to understand how most great Indian art could be at once so sensuous and so spiritual." Cf. also Kosambi 1948 Editor's Preface: "Bhartr-hari's poetry..." Miller 1967:xvi:".. ...a tone of irony, skepticism, and discontent..." m 2.The implicit reference here is to works such as srngara vairagyatarangini. At least two compositions go by this name: (a) Somaprabhacarya's, printed in Kavya-mala, gucchaka 5, pp. 142-165, with Sukha-bodhika vrtti, Bombay: Nirnaya-sagara Press, 1888. (b) Divakaramuni's, published by Abhaya-candra Bhagavana-dasa, probably in Ahmedabad, and distributed by Sri-Yaso-vijaya-Jaina-gratha-mala Office, Khara-geta [=Khargate), Bhava-nagara, Kathiyavada, 1916. 3.I do not know if such a poem actually exists, but I am sure the Sanskrit poets were capable of writing one, given the success they have registered in narrating two of more stories simultaneously with the same sequence of syllables. If paranomasia could enable them to cover the stories of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata with a common phonetic continum in compositions like the Raghava-pandaviya, I do not see why, if they put their mind to it, they could not write texts that served as a locus for both the ecotic and the ascetic content. 4. Alternative spellings: Gorakha-natha, Gorakh-nath. 5. The stories alluded to here can be found in Gopinath 1896:4-8, 1923, 43-39; Kosambi 1948: Introduction pp. 79-80, Cort 1983:7-9, Miller 1967:xvi-xvii and Miller 1990:3. It should, however, be noted that in providing these references I am confining myself to the publications referred to elsewhere in this article. The actual body of literature collecting BH stories and discussing them is much larger. 6. Older spelling: I-tsing. 7. In my experience, loss of writing strokes occurs much more commonly in manuscripts than the addition of strokes. Both "hari" and "hara" being very common words, a scribe can easily write one under the influence of the other. Seeing a predilection toward Hara in the Satakatraya stanzas (1, 317, 325, 338, 339, 344, 347 etc.), a scribe could have changed "hari" to "hara", but a similar explanation cannot be given for the attestation of "hari". 8. (a) This article is not the occasion to enter into a full discussion of BH as a historical personality or of the identity of the various BHs that our

Page #21
TATY-89.21 sources present to 115. I have referred to only a few philological details and concentrated on those considerations which are ligically closer to the observations I make below. An allied discussion is available in Miller 1990:23 24. (b) I am not claiming that conclusive proofs are available for the position for which I have indicated preference. My intention is only to point out that possibility which seems stronger. (c) When Kosambi (1948: Introduction p. 79) expressed the following view he was obviously thinking on a background of research which has since become outdated : "There is nothing common to the two (namely, BH associated with the Sataka-traya and BH, the author of the Vakyapadiya) except the name, and as the Vakyapadiya is the last work in the great tradition of classical Sanskrit grammar, the solecisms we have noted earlier would seem to exclude the possibility of identification. ... that Bhartr-hari [=The Vakyapadiya author), on reading I-tsing closely, is seen to be an ardent Buddhist... but there is nothing in our collection {=Sataka-trayadi} that could be traced to such an author." Kosambi was apparently not aware that Kunhan Raja had pointed out in 1936 that the year of BH's death mentioned by I-ching cannot be correci. Most of the research locating the graminarian BH in western India is a product of the last three decades. Kosambi cannot be expected to have known it. Since Kosambi's own research indicates (a) that BH did not put together any collection of stanzas that later led to the formation of the Sataka-traya and (b) that the relevant stanzas were later collected under the belief that they were BH's, the solecisms noticed in a couple of stanzas cannot with certainty, be attributed specifically to BH, They can be attributed to the earliest reconstructible form of the collection but that form itself not in its entirety attributable to a single author well-versed in grammar. As for Kosambi's last point, hardly any scholar accepts I-ching's description of BH as a Buddhist in a literal sense. All thai l-ching's statement really proves is that by his tine BH had become a legend and the Buddhists too claimed him as one of their own. 9. Kosambi (1948: Introduction pp. 80-81) determines the tone that gives the stanzas their unity in a very different way: the discontent of a Brahmin who could not get to live a materially comfortable lise despite his learning and mastery of Sanskrit. In my view, such a determination is based on the fallacy of taking recurrence of themes as a reflection of the true state of affairs in the author's personal life. In the present case it is all the more fallacious to depend on the frequency of voicing of

Page #22
anusaMdhAna - 17* 22 discontent to derive very specific inferences about the author's personal life. If a certain type of stanza came to be attracted to the collection from a very distant past and if this process had gone on for several centuries as Kosambi himself has rightly concluded, the unity we feel in the collection must be of a deeper and general kind. It must be a philosophical or temperamental unity, not one arising out of a specific personal circumstances of a single individual. In identifying the unifying element of the collection Kosambi, an impressively versatile and imaginative practitioner of textual criticism, has allowed his own social and political philosophy to read what the available evidence does not warrant. 10.I am as yet not convinced that Asva-ghosa wrote before Kalidasa, that the surviving versions of Svapna-vasava-datta and Pratijna-yaugandharayana come from a period extending beyond Kalidasa or that the other plays attributed to Bhasa were in fact composed by the predecessor carrying that name who is mentioned by Kalidasa in his Malavikagni-mitra. 11.Miller (1967:xxvi, 1990:7, 12-13) and Bailey (1994:2, 1996:203) seem to assume that all the poetic images, conventions and techniques witnessed in BH's poetry were inherited. I do not think we should rule out the other possibility that BH made some original contributions in all these areas and thus influenced the course of Sanskrit poetry in the following centuries. We need to entertain such a possibility especially in view of the likelihood that the earliest poems assignable to BH may predate Kalidasa's Sakuntala and the earliest reconstructible version of the Panca-tantra (Kosambi 1948: Introduction p.78). 12. Takakusu's (1896:179-180) translation: "Having desired to embrace [emphasis in the origina] the excellent Law he bacame a homeless priest, but overcome by worldly desires he returned again to the laity. In the same manner he became seven times a priest, and seven times returned to the laity. Unless one believes well in the truth of cause and effect, one cannot act strenuously like him. He wrote the following verses full of self-approach: Through the enticement of the world I returned to the laity. Being free from secular pleasures again I wear the priestly cloak. How do these two impulses Play with me as if a child ? Once when a priest in the monastery, being harassed by worldly desires, he was disposed to return to the laity. He remained, however, firm and asked a student to get a carriage outside the monastery. On being

Page #23
3178 -910. 23 asked the cause, he replied: 'It is the place where one performs meritorious actions, and it is designed for the dwelling of those who keep the moral precepts (sila). Now passion already predominates within me, and I am incapable of adhering to the excellent Law. Such a man as myself should not intrude into an assembly of priests come here from every quarter.' Then he returned to the position of a lay devotee (Upasaka), and wearing a white garment continued to exalt and promote the true religion, being still in the monastery." 13. Noteworthy in this context are the verses appearing at the end of the Vakyapadiya, the second book of the Trikandi: Prajna vivekan labhate bhinnair agania-darsanaih/kivad va sakyam unnetum svatarkan anudhavata // tal rad utpreksamananam purancir agamair vina / anupasita-vrddhanam vidya natiprasidati // "One's intellect acquires discernment through the diverse views found in the inherited branches knowledge. (After all) how much can one figure out if one follows (only) one's own reasoning ! The knowledge of those who conceive of this or that without (recourse to) the inherited branches of knowledge that have come down from antiquity and who do not sit neat the elders (to learn) does not gain much perspicuity." The verses might have been composed by BH or by a student of his. In either case, the thoughts expressed in them are borne out by the Trikandi and can be accepted as a statement of BH's philosophy of life. 14. This statement should be confused with statements like the following which are sometimes made in speaking of BH, the poet: (a) The Niti, Smgara and Vairagya collections of stanzas reflect, in that order, the stages through which BH's own life passed. (b) Although BH speaks of worldly wisdom and amorous life, the message he really wishes to convey as something he learned from life is that of renunciation. Of course, (a) amounts to simplistic historiography. Kosambi's textcritical work precludes it, as well as (b). It was not BH himself who collected the stanzas known as Sataka-traya in the form of three groups. The Vairagya-sataka constitutes the textually least stable group of stanzas. Furthermore, the stanzas cited in this essay will bear out thin the attraction to the sensuous infiltrates even many of the renunciation anas 15. It should be noted that Kosambi 11948:Introducton pp.1.66,78-79) does not low these stanzas as definitely inauthentic. His textual investigation leads him to label these stanzas as samsavita, nol as praksipta

Page #24
anusaMdhAna - 17*24 13 ***3 16. Cf. Miller 1967:xvii: "Compelled by his strong sense of personal irony, Bhartihari sees man's paradixical position in a transient, seductive world." This is changed to read as follows in Miller 1990:4: "Compelled by a strong sense of personal irony, Bhartrihari sees man's position as paradoxical in a transient, seductive world." Miller (1967:xviiixxiv) provides further details which support the reading of BH as an author caught in a dilemma. Particularly to be noted is the need she feels to employ the following phrases: "lurking attachment... as well as a revulsion," "undercurrent of turmoil," "painful, perplexing position," "confusion, longing, pain," "enigma which defies... solution," "inescapable bondage and suffering," "Bhartihari's unrest," "He feels the distressing necessity... But he is weak "In tems of Bhartihari's collected verses man's life is an intricate web of conflicting moments and attractions," "he cannot understand the real meaning of time and his own absurd position in existence. Bhartrihari shows a keen awareness for the paradox involved in enjoining a deluded man to abandon the world of his delusion." "Bhartrihari does not simply vacillate between worldly indulgence and asceticism; his confusion is more profound..." and "His ironic sense that none of life's possibilities are what they seem to be..." Cf. further Miller 1990:3-4, 14-19, in particular, the remark: "The poet cannot choose between asceticism and worldly indulgence because he finds them equally attractive, and equally deficient." Also, Bailey 1994:1, 15: "...an irrestible pessimism about the human condition. ... Bhartr-hari wrestled with his own incapacity realistically to influence the fragility he perceived as the defining characteristic of existence. ... Bhartr-hari uses also [-all] sorts of devices to fracture any kind of absolute vision of received truth which might have been regarded as axiomatic and not in need of defence. ...radical undermining of the available options..." 17. In the following pages, I will utilize existing readable translations if they do not obscure the main idea of a stanza, although they may occasionally not do full justice to the syntax of the original. The objective of this essay does not depend on a literal understanding of the poems. Citing of other's translations will give some idea, incidentally. of the variety of strategies one can employ to make old poetry easily accessible to the contemporary reader.. 18. In Miller 1967:65, the second and fourth lines of the translation read: "Two worlds alone are worth a man's devotion" and "And full of fresh wine's heady ardor for sport." Actually, the muda mentioned here may not have anything to do with wine. As in stanza 116 quoted "3

Page #25
3 THT-94.25 in $3.5, it may refer to the sense 'I am someone special; I can attract this man if I wish' felt to exist in young women. Miller (1967:87 = 1990:72) introduces it with the word "seduction" in her translation of 116. 19. In addition to the select examples given here, there are stanzas in which the dilemma finds a somewhat indirect expression; e.g. in stanzas 147 and 183 quoted in 83.5 and $3.4, respectively. 20. The pronoun vayam here may also be rendered in the plural. 21. What the idiom tapas tap makes possible in Sanskrit (build up ascetic heat try refraining from objects of comfort, to accumulate spiritual energy by staying away from sensual pleasures') seems impossible to render in English in such a literal or semi-literal way that the contrast with the following use of tap (be heated, be subjected to suffering') can be brought out. Hence, I have offred a translation concentrating on what tapas, the austerities, are supposed to accomplish, namely the eradication of the ordinary worldly pleasure-seeking self. 22. This probably means 'I did not win the immortality or victory over death that I was seeking. I had to give up the effort. The latter half could also be speaking of impending death with a past tense in view of the certainty of death: "Consider it certain that I will go away. I am as good as dead." 23. Miller's (1967:113 = 1990:85) translation puzzles me. It runs thus: "We savored no pleasure, so we are consumed. We practiced no penance, so we are afflicted. We did not elude time, so we are pursued. We did not wither craving, So we are the wizened." Gopinath (1896:228) is much closer to the original in syntax, as well as in bringing out the intended contrasts, but his is not a readiable translation. Somewhere between my rendering and Miller's rendering falls the following translation by Cort (1983:21): "Thinking I enjoyed the pleasures of life, I myself was enjoyed by life. Thinking I didn't need to hurn off my sins, I myself was burnt up. Thinking that I passed the time,

Page #26
anusaMdhAna - 17*26 I myself was passing on. Greed didn't grow old and leave my body, I myself grew old." 24. Kosambi reads tanute at this point. However, he also indicates that the objective support for the reading is not as in the case of the other words to the stanza and that manute can also lay a claim for being the authentic reading. An idiom of the form drstih tri-bhuvanam brahma tanute seems less than probable in Sanskrit. Furthermore, in most Indian scripts ta is more likely to result from ma (through some parts of the written syllable becoming faint) than the other way round. 25. I am not certain about the sense of sami-bhuta intended by the poet. Normally, an anjana cures the eyes or makes them stronger (for the latter, recall references in literature to ointments that enable a hero etc. to see in the dark or to see a hidden treasure.) In view of these associations and the context, sami-bhuta should mean 'one which has come to its normal state' or, much less likely, 'one which has become equal to the task to be performed to the challenge to be faced.* 26. The readable translations by Ingalls (1965:423), Miller (1967:7, 1990:31) and Bailey (1996:203) have helped me in my choice of words, but I found them all to be unnecessarily diffusing the dramatic contrast in the original. 27 (a) The translatins by Ingalls (1965:421-422), Miller (1967:135, 1990:96) and cort (1983:36) deviate too much from the original. (b) Kosambi's (1948: introducton p. 81) comment on the stanza ("No king who had renounced would have advised his soul to renounce if it could not taste the pleasures of royalty.") misses the point. 28. Translation as in Fitzgerald 1859 (first edition), rubai 11. 29. I have taken some help from Miller (1967:87 = 1990:72) in offering this translation. I had to set aside her translation because she misconstrues the original here to an extent that cannot be overlooked. - 30. Alos, partially or indirectly in stanzas 27 (manina bhusitah sarpah kim asau na bhayamkarah "Does a serpent cease to be dangerous because it has a diadem hood ?"), 37 (sva-mahima yady asti kim mandanaih "If one has a majestic personality, what need is there of embellishments ?"), and 68 (vibhusanam maunam apanditanam "Refraining from speech is the ornament of fools"). 31. (a) Miller 1967:69 has swelling bosses" instead of "swelling temples." In other respects her earlier translation is identical with the one reproduced

Page #27
311 HET-89* 27 here. (b) Baile : 1996:208-209 offers a translation that is very similar to Miller's, except for "breasts which remove fascination with the elephant's bosses." 32. Miller 1967:45 has "Is graced by the Vedas" as the second line. Like some other translators of Sanskrit texts, she has connected sruta with sruti. However, sruta is quite commonly secular learning. Unless the context indicates a clear association with religious or canonical learning, it need not be translated so restrictively as she has. A translation like 'knowledge, erudition' would have been more appropriate in the present context. 33. In this stanza, one needs to understand kesamcit in the last quarter as kesamcid eva 'only of some,' which then implies that only a few lucky ones -- only those who have sufficient good karma to their credii - get to enjoy the varied garlands (or perhaps the Spring nights of the described kind); cf. Ramarsi p. 73: kesamcit punyavatam. Dhara-sara-ganin p. 73: bhagyavatam pumsam. Thus, Miller (1967:101, 1990:79), whose translation I could not use here, should not have opted for a translation employing the singulars "he" and "anyone". A precious explanation of the rare word kilakircita is preserved in the commentaries of Dhana-sara-ganin (p. 73 kilakimcitasya suratasabda-visesasya) and Ramarsi (p. 73, smita-rudita-muditanam samkarah kilakimcitam ucyute. kilakimcitasya vilasa-visesasya). Miller rightly corrects her 1967 translation, "A lover's bed beside his mistress," to "Beside him his mistress embodying love" in 1990, but while the latter translation can be thought if as agreeing in spirit with the explanations of Dhana-sara and Ramarsi, it does not have the specificity of those explanations, She also passes over the word karipayaih ("some, a few, select') which is significant as an adjective suggesting insistence on maintaining high standards. Alos, Miller's rendering 'stray' of mugshah would be difficult to justify, both in terms of what mugdha usually means, as well as the context. One expects the poet to speak of a prominent presence of moonlight, given his intention to create an enchanting scene 34. I found the blunt contrast in the original muffled in the translations of Miller (1967:141 - 1990:99) and Cort (1983:41). 35. ll is possible that my use of "never" may be challanged on the basis of an instance or two in the large corpus of stanzas Kosambi has collected. I have read through the probably authentic 200 stanzas and the possibly authentic 152 stanzas as carefully as I could to

Page #28
anusaMdhAna - 17*28 find out if any of them mention an ornament as a thing stimulating the poet directly. 36. The almost exclusive engagement with the beauty of eyes in stanzas 100 (vamaksi, bhru-lata), 280 (mrgaksi), 287 (kuvalaya-drs), 336 (vamanayana) and 341(atrasta-kuranga-sava-nayana) should also be noted in this context. 37. The only difference in Miller 1967:61 is at this point and it is minor. Her translation there reads "and sport." 38. I have adopted the following translation by Bailey (1996:206) with changes necessitated by the grammar of the original: "Eyes curved by her dextrous brows, side glances, affectionate words, laughs ending in coyness, playfully languorous whether moving or still. This is both ornament and weapon of woman.' 39. This naturally makes me wonder about what India of our times has done to herself with a rather vulgar interest in ostentatious jewellry seen even is the educated middle class and with the rejection of natural ornaments such as flowers in many parts of north India. How did the transformation come about if indeed there was a transformation on a large scale ? 40. Cf. Miller 1967:xxv-xxix, 1990: 12-13, particularly the remark in the former essay: "... the sententious, reflective epigrams [of Bhartrihari] are not folksy hits of wisdom in verse form. They too are dominated by strict aesthetic controls and a self-conscious idea of art." Bailey (1994:15-25, 1996:202-218) offers several sensitive and insightful analyses of the art present in BH's poems, occasional overreading apart. 41. Miller happily exploits the ambiguity of "attend upon" to connect the items connected in the original with nitamba. Cort (1983:19) provides a pun similar to that of nitamba but translates the rest more freely (albeit appropriately): "Dispel my doubts, pandit. Which is better? Which is proper? Should I frequent the flanks of a far mountain or the flanks of a woman smiling in the embrace of passion?" 42. I find Miller's (1967:91 = 1990:74) translation of this stanza a little too free.

Page #29
anusaMdhAna - 17* 29 43. According to more than one Vedist, such was the thinking behind the performance of the Agnihotra in the earliest period to which our cxtant sources can take us. It could be an adequate if not the whole explanation for the specified period. For the later periods, however, it will be only partially true and superficial. BIBLIOGRAPHY Bailey, Gregory M. 1994. Bhartr-hari's critique of culture. Bundoora, Victoria, Asutalia: La Trobe University, School of Asian Studies. La Trobe Asian Studies Papers Research Series no.2. Bailey, Gregory M. 1996. "Bhartr-hari's manipulation of the feminine." Indo-Iranian Journal 39:201-221. Bhartr-hari. (a) Bhartr-hari's Sataka-tryayam. Ed., tr. Gopinath, P. First edition 1896. Revised edition [actually a reprint only, as far as I could ascertain] by Naga-sarana Simha. Delhi: Nag Publishers. Bhartr-hari. (b) The Niti and Vairagya Satakas of Bhartr-hari. Ed. with a commentary in Sanskrit, an English translation and Notes by M.R. Kale. Year of the first edition not known. Second edition in 1902, third in 1910, fourth in 1918. What I have used is a reprint of 1971 (Delhi etc.: Motilal Banarsidass), made photographically, probably of the seventh edition. Bhartr-hari. (c) Mahakavi-Bhatr-hari-viracita Satakatrayadi-subhasita-samgraha. The Epigrams Attributed to Bharty-hari Including the Three Centuries. Ed. D.D. Kosambi, Bombay: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. 1948. Singhi Jain Series 23. Bhartr-hari. (d) Bhartr-hari's Satakatrayam... with the Oldest Commentary of Jain Scholar Dhanasara-gani. Ed. Kosambi, D.D. 1959. Bombay. Singhi Jain Series no. 29. *** Bhartr-hari. (e) Sri-Ramarsi-pranita-vivrti-namaka-tikopetam sri-Bharty-hari-pranitam sataka-trayam. Eds. Krsna-murti-sastri, Rama-krsna: Kosambi, Damodara Dharmananda. Pune:

Page #30
BTTA812-819* 30 Anandasrama. 1977. Anandasrama-samskrta-granthavali 127. Cort, John (tr.). 1983. An Old Tree Living by the River : Poems of Bhartr-hari Translated from Sanskrit. Calcutta: Writers Workshop Dhana-sara-ganin: see "Bharts-hari." Fitzgerald, Edward. 1859, first edn. Rubaiyal of Omay Khayyam. Glasgow and London: Collins. New edition 1947. Latest revised edition known to me 1954. Latest reprint known to me 1974. Khorasan edition rendered into English verse by Fitzgerald. His rendering edited by George F. Maine. Illustrated by Robert Stewart Sherriffs. Gopinath: see "Bhartr-hari." I-ching: see "I-tsing." I-tsing. A Record of the Buddhist Religion as practised in India and the Malay Archipelago (A. D. 671-695). (tr.) Takakusu, J. 1896. London: Clarendon Press. Reprint 1966. Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal. Contains a letter from the Right Hon. Professor F. Max Muller that overviews and supplements the information gleaned from Takakusu's translation. Ingalls, Daniel H.H. (tr.) 1965. An Anthology of Sanskrit Poetry. Vidyakara's Subhasita-ratna-kosa. Cambridge, Mazssachusetts: Harvard University Press. Harvard Oriental Series 44. Jina-vijaya, Muni. 1959: "kincit prastavika" (=preface] to Kosambi 1959, pp. 3-10. See "Bharti-hari." Kale, M.R. 1971 reprint: see "Bhartr-hari." Kosambi, D.D. 1948: see "Bhartr-hari." Kosambi, D.D. 1959: see 'Bhartr-hari." Kunhan Raja. c. 1936. "I-tsing and Bhartr-hari's Vakyapadiya." Dr. S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar Commemoration Volume, pp. 285-298. Madras.

Page #31
37 H917-89.31 Miller, Barbara Stoler (tr.) 1990. Bhartrihari and Bilhana. The Hermit and the Love Thief. Penguin Classics. Penguin Books. First published as The Hermit and the Love Thief: Sanskrit poems of Bhartrihari and Bilhana by Columbia University Press, 1978. Miller, Barbara Stoler (tr.). 1967. Bhartrihari: Poems. New York and London: Columbia University Press. Ramarsi: see "Bhartr-hari." Takakusu: see "I-tsing."