Tibetan Citations Of Bhartrharis Verses And Problem Of His Date

SR No.: 269718
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Hajime Nakamura
Publisher: Hajime Nakamura
Total Pages: 15
Language: English
Classification: Article
File Size: 2 MB

Page 13

HAJIME NAKAMURA
la lar yan lag ubah shig la hjug pa ma yin te / dper na /
dbyibs dan kha dog cha sas kyis / khyad par byas nas hjug pa yin/ sgra yis de yi cha śas la /
rab tu hjug pa drigs ma yin// A restoration into Sanskrit of these verses might casily correspond to the following verses in the Väkyapadiya:
bindau ca samudāye ca văcakah saliladişu / samkhyāpramānasamsthānanirapeksaḥ pravartate// (Vakyap. II, 160.) 35 samsthānavarnāvayavair visiste yah prayujyate / śabdo na tasyāvayave pravșttir upalabhyate // (Vākyap. II, 157.)
This means that either Dignāga took the Kārikās from Bharthari's work or both Dignāga and Bhartrhari took them from quite a different work. But there is no evidence to support the latter alternative. We learn from Jinendrabuddhi, author of Viśālāmalaţikā on the Pramāņa-samuccaya-urtti of Dignāga, that Dignāga, is here referring to the views of Bharthari.3s ) This evidently supports the former alternative that Dignāga is quoting from Bharthari.
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 Bharthari, we have in addition pointed out many citations of his verses. Taking all these pieces of evidence into consideration, we have to conclude that Bharthari must have lived prior to, or at latest contemporary with, Dignāga, Asvabhāva (No-bo-nid med-pa), Bhavya (Bhāva viveka) and Dharmapala.
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)
af Cf. Visälamalaţiki : 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 yois su gzui no/(=kva cit tu mukhyā avayaveșu vsttih/yathoktan Bharthariņa salilădişv iti adisabdena Prthivyādinām parigrahah )
37 According to Taranátha, Dignåga was a pupil of Vasubandhu (Taranátha's Geschichte des Buddhismus in Indien, übersetzt von Anton Schiefner, St. Petersburg 1869, S. 131).
33 H. N. Randle: Fragments from Dinnaga. London 1926, p. 3. In another work he says: "Dinnãga's date shares the uncertainty attaching to that of his master Vasubandhu. IIc 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. 167. Louis Renou et Jean Filliozt: L'Inde Classique, tome II. Paris 1953, p. 380.