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 14

114
Johannes Bronkhorst
ma. This indication consists in the twice quoted phrase dadhimadhvādayo dharmaḥ 'curds, honey, etc. constitute dharma'. The phrase is quoted (twice) in a difficult and corrupt passage, which may however be reconstituted as follows (M$ 11b3-5; AL 34.8-12; Sw 40.21-25; CE I 28.17-20):
yathā pūrvakālam prayuktani dirghasattrāņi idānim aprayujyamānāny api dadhimadhvādayo dharma iti karmatādivişayaḥ sidhyata evam anyaiḥ prayuktānām sarvakālam idānim aprayujyamānānām apy anuvidhanam yuktam / ye tu dadhimadhvādayo dharma iti teşām vyākarane 'yam artho na sambhavati / na hi iha sabdoccăranāt dharma iti /
This may tentatively be translated :
Just as long Soma sacrifices were used formerly, and even though they are not used now, the aim of sacrificial activity is attained since curds, honey etc. constitute dharma; so the laying down of rules for things which have been used by others all the time is proper, even though these things are not used now. But this is not possible in grammar for those who [hold) that curds, honey etc. constitute dharma. For no dharma comes forth from uttering sound.
Much is unclear in this passage. But it shows that we do not have to conclude that Bhartshari lived much before Sabara. It seems more appropriate to conjecture that Bhartshari used a text on Mimāṁsā older than Sabara's Bhāșya, most probably Bhavadāsa's Vștti. We are however fully justified in thinking that Bhartshari cannot have lived long after śabara.
3. The above observations, if correct, allow us to draw the following con
clusions. Bhartshari was acquainted with Mimāņsā, but did not use it where we would expect him to use it. In the context of ritual details he rather draws upon another tradition, most probably on the traditional manuals current in his Vedic school, that of the Maitrāyaṇīyas. And where he makes references to Mímāmsā, it is never to Sabara's Bhāşya, but rather to a Mimāņsā work in verse, or containing verse, which has not survived, but may have been Bhavadāsa's Vștti. He may have known the Pūrva Mimāņsā Sūtra, or a part of it, but this is not certain.