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Albrecht Weiler
Bhrigdra in Sanskrit Literature
25
Mam 7.6, a verse particularly interesting in the context of the ideas about kingship in ancient India, runs thus:
fapaty adityavec caigam cakşümpi ca mariamsi ca/
na cainam bhuvi soknoti kascid apy abhiviksitum I
and Bharuci gives the following remarkable explanation: maharaja-lingena camara-cchatra-bhrigadina yukto dipimattvac cakşiwyddityavat lapayati, mona isi dendapatanat). The question apart whether the characterization of the king as being furnished with the emblems of royalty is meant as reason for his burning the cyes" or as a restriction of this effect to a legally enthroned king or to the king insofar as he acts with authority, one is puzzled by the last member of the compound camara-cchatrabrigo-. J.D.M. Derrett has taken the text as it stands, but his proposal to interpret it to mean with his flywhisks, umbrella, and bees', etc." poses questions. And that he himself didn't feel happy about it becomes clear by his footnote "attendants?'.
After what has been said so far in the course of this study, it can hardly come as a surprise that I, on my part, should like to suggest a conjecture here, viz. to read .bh ngdradina instead of .blurngädind. This implies that just one okjara has dropped out, and it further starts from the assumption that the contention of the lexicographer Mathuresa (17th century)" that the word bhriga is used among others in the sense of bhragara" is at best based on a crux like that in Bharuci's commentary and not at all confirmed by actual usage. That instead of bhragadina one should read Sprigadina can also safely be ruled out, for the remark found in the Vacaspatya s.v.rajatriga, viz. that this expression is semantically equivalent to rajacihnacchatra, is of no relevance here since the "umbrella (as
one of emblems]"101 is already mentioned by Bharuci, and in a quite unequivocal manner at that; for a similar reason the contention of Purusottama, the author of the Trikandused," that fraga-n. has among others the meaning of cilina, can remain unchecked: In an explanation of the expression maharajalinga, given by the author himself, what one is alone justified in expecting are the names of individual ensigns, and not at all the notion "sigo" as such. Therefore I should think that the emendation proposed by me is the most natural one in the context, hence I take Bharuci to give the following explanation: "He, (i e. the great king) burns the eyes like the sun because he [tool is characterized by dazzling splendour insofar as/ify when he is furnished with the emblems of a great king, (viz.) the (pair of) fly-whisks, the umbrella, the vessel-used-for-hiscoronation, etc. (and he burns the minds because he causes punishment to be inflicted." There is no doubt hence that Bharuci (between 600 and 650 A.D. according to Derretti enumerates the bhrrigara among the emblems of royalty, and among the most important ones at that.
42 That is to say, I regard it as definitely established that the vessel called bhrrigara forms qua abhijekapatra one of the distinctive marks of a king. But I should like to stress at the same time that I neither ignore nor want to dispute the fact that this its role and function is attested to in our sources but sporadically-though it will be shown later that there is more textual evidence than has been realized until now. Nonetheless in my opinion this quantitative argument does not carry much weight and this for the following reasons:
1. In most, nay practically all cases when commentators, etc., explain expressions like raja (etc.)-lakṣman, --cihna, etc., or 101. The semantic development is not clear to me 102. Viz, at 3.3, 70; cf. also (according to the Larger Petrograd Dictionary S. v.
frise-n.) Hem, on Medini 2.3, 25-26 103. The latter sentence has been quoted from Derrett
Commentary on the Manusnyt... Vol. IL... Wiesbaden 1975, p. 34) which seems
bit strange as regards the remaining part, 101. O. c. (cf. fo. 97), Introduction p. 9 f. 105. Note that rajalaka s also used in the sense of bodily marks indicating
future) king" (cle. . Dasakumaracarita, ed., NR. Acarya, NSP, Bombay 1951, p. 14. 1. 12 as well as H. Kohlbrugge. "Glücks und Unglücks zeichen
96. Note that Bharuci seems to have read caira which may indeed be regarded as the
older original reading 97. The edition used is, of course, that of I. D. M. Derrett, Bharuci's Commeotary
on the Manusmor (The Manu Sastre-Vivaroga. Books 6-12)... Vol. 1: The Text,
Wiesbaden 1975, p. 50. 98. Cr. C, Vogel, Indian Lexicography (1 History of Indian Literature, ed. by J. Gonda,
V. 4), Wiesbaden 1979, p. 365 ff. 9. C. also the Larger Petrograd Dictionary ... bhpiga.. In the edition of the
Sahdaranavall itself (ed. by Pdt, Manindra Mohan Chaudhuri, Calcutta 1970).
the corresponding statement is found on p 192. 100. C. Trik andaseja 2. 8. 32.
