Studies On Bhartrhari

SR No.: 269568
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Johannes Bronkhorst
Publisher: Johannes Bronkhorst
Total Pages: 17
Language: English
Classification: Article
File Size: 2 MB

Page 13

Bhartshari and Mímāmsā
113
dharmaprayojano veti mimāmsakadarśanam / avasthita eva dharmaḥ / sa tv agnihotrādibhir abhivyajyate / tatpreritas tu phalado bhavati / "[The words in the Mahābhāşya (1.8.5-6)] dharmaprayojano vā ... 'bringing about dharma'' [express] the view of the Mimāņsakas. [According to them) dharma is eternal. It is however manifested by such sacrifices as] Agnihotra etc. Instigated by these (dharma] produces result."
Mīmāmsaka contrasts this statement with a passage from Jayanta Bhatta's Nyāyamañjari which reads (p. 664):
urddhamīmāms akah yāgādikarmanirvartyam apūrvam nāma dharmam abhivadanti yāgādikarmaiva sābara bruvate "The old Mimämsakas declare dharma, [also] called apūrva, to be produced by ritual activities such as sacrifices. The followers of Sabara say that the ritual activities such as sacrifices are themselves [dharma)..10
The two passages combined seem to indicate that the Mimāņsakas known to Bhartshari were older than Sabara. Mimāmsaka goes further and concludes that Bhartrhari himself is much earlier than Sabara. This need not be true. In fact, Bhartshari's commentary contains an indication that its author knew a view according to which the constituents of the sacrifice are dhar
9. We must assume that Bhartrhari considers prayojana here synonymous
with prayojaka 'bringing about' for the following reasons: (i) otherwise tatpreritas makes no sense; (ii) a few lines further down we find the explanation dharmasya ... prayojaka /n. Joshi and Roodbergen (1973:82 fn. 326) explain this meaning as follows: "The word prayojana is formed by adding the suffix Lyut (i.e. ana, P. 7.1.1) to the stem prayuj, in the sense of karana: 'instrument' (P. 3.3. 117). Thus the meaning of prayojana can be analyzed as prayujyate anena tat prayojanam: 'that by which something is regulated is (called) prayojana'. Taken in this sense, prayojana comes to mean prayojaka: "regulator'." It seems however more correct to account for prayojana in this sense by P. 3.3.113 (krtyalyuto bahulam). This is done, e.g., by Bhattoji Dikṣita in his sabda kaustubha (vol. I, p. 11): atra prayujyate pravartyate'neneti karanalyudantah prayojayatiti kartsvyutpattyā bāhulakāt kartrlyudanto vā ubhayathapi pravartakavidhiparah pumlingah
prayojanaśabda ekaḥ / phalaparaḥ klibo 'parah / . 1o. cf. Sabara's Bhāsya on PMS 1.1.2: yo ho yagam anutişthati tam dharmi
ka iti samācakşate / yas ca yasya kartā sa tena vyapadisyate / yatha paeako Πάνακα tti/.