Tibetan Citations Of Bhartaharis Verses And Problem Of His Date

SR No.: 269393
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Hajime Nakamura
Publisher: Hajime Nakamura
Total Pages: 16
Language: English
Classification: Article
File Size: 2 MB

Page 14

134
HAJIME NAKAMURA
la lar yan lag ḥbaḥ shig la hjug pa ma yin te / dper na /
dbyibs dan kha dog cha śas kyis / khyad par byas nas hjug pa yin/ sgra yis de yi cha śas la /
rab tu hjug pa dmigs ma yin // A restoration into Sanskrit of these verses might easily correspond to the following verses in the Väkyapadīya :
bindau ca samudāye ca vācakah salilādişu / samkhyāpramāṇasamsthānanirapekṣaḥ pravartate // (Vākyap. II, 160.) 35 samsthānavarnavayavair visiste yah prayujyate/ śabdo na tasyāvayave pravrttir upalabhyate //(Vākyap. II, 157.)
This means that either Dignāga took the Kārikās from Bhartphari's work or both Dignāga and Bhartphari took them from quite a different work. But there is no evidence to support the latter alternative. We learn from Jinendrabuddhi, author of Viśālāmalațīkā on the Pramāņa-samuccaya-vrtti of Dignāga, that Dignāga, is here referring to the views of Bhartphari. 36 This evidently supports the former alternative that Dignāga is quoting from Bhartphari.
The foregoing are the pieces of evidence set forth by Mr. H. R. Rangaswamy Iyengar. But whereas he has pointed out just one Tibetan citation of a verse by Bhartshari, we have in addition pointed out many citations of his verses. Taking all these pieces of evidence into consideration, we have to conclude that Bhartshari must have lived prior to, or at latest contemporary with, Dignāga, Asvabhāva (No-bo-ñid med-pa), Bhavya (Bhāvaviveka) and Dharmapāla.
There has been much dispute about the date of Dignāga.37 Randle once. said that “all that can be said with certainty is that he lived somewhere between 350 A. D. and 500 A. D." 38 According to most scholars he lived about 500 A. D.39 Dr. H. Ui fixed his date as c. 400-480, on the ground that he
35 The first and the second halves are given in reverse order in the edition of the Benares Sanskrit Series. (p. 185)
33 Cf. Viśālāmalaţikā: Mdo. re, folio 331 b. 1. 6 ff. : kha cig tu gtso bor cha tshas rnams la hjug te / bha rite haris yis smras pa / cha sogs rnams la zes paḥi sogs pahi sgras. sa la yons su gzun no/(=kva cit tu mukhyā avayaveșu vsttiḥ / yathoktam Bhartshariņā salilādişv iti adiśabdena prthivyādinām parigrahah )
37 According to Täranātha, Dignāga was a pupil of Vasubandhu (Taranátha's Geschichte des Buddhismus in Indien, übersetzt von Anton Schiefner, St. Petersburg 1869, S. 131).
38 H. N. Randle: Fragments from Dinnāga. London 1926, p. 3. In another work he says: "Dinnāga's date shares the uncertainty attaching to that of his master Vasubandhu. He may fall anywhere between 400 and 500 A. D." (Randle : Indian Logic in the Early Schools. Oxford University press, 1930 p. 27).
39 Moritz Winternitz: Geschichte der ichenndis Litteratur, Bd. III. Leipzig 1920. S. 467. Louis Renou et Jean Filliozt: L'Inde Classique, tome II. Paris 1953, p. 380.