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Rishibhashit : A Study
mentioned in Sutrakritang;150 Sutrakritang-churni,151 and commentary on Sutrakritang written by Sheelankacharya. 152 However, we do not get any information about the life history of Bahuk in all these works. Sutrakritang mentions Bahuk along with other Rishis like Nami, Narayan, Asit-deval, Dvaipayan, and Parashar. It says that, recognised in preachings of Arhat, this Bahuk Rishi attained liberation inspite of drinking water infested with living organisms. Sutrakritang-churni clearly states that his mention is found in Rishibhashit and that he attained liberation inspite of living in jungles and consuming vegetables, seeds, and cold water. This confirms that the Bahuks mentioned in Rishibhashit and Sutrakritang are same. But non of these works detail his life history.
Rishimandal-vritti is also silent about his life, as such nothing much can be said about his life history. According to Sthanang-sutra, the tenth chapter of Prashnavyakaran-dasha was about Bahu. Although the available editions of Prashnavyakaran-dasha do not contain these chapters; I have explained in one of my articles elsewhere that this chapter must have been a part of the oldest edition of Prashnavy akaran and it must have contained the preachings of Bahuk.
The central theme of the preachings of Bahuk in Rishibhashit is that if correct information is presented with incorrect thoughts, it is not authentic; infact the meaning of this statement is that if view point or thought process is impure, the evident activity, even though it appears ethical, would be considered as unethical. In this chapter, emphasizing detachmant, it has been shown that the detached practices alone lead to liberation. All ascetic practices done with attachment lead to hell. As such Bahuk appears to be a propagater of the path of detachment.
The name of Bahuk does not appear anywhere in the Buddhist tradition,153 however there are mentions of Bahik and Bahi. It is difficult to surmise if these Bahi & Bahik are same as Bahuk of Rishibhashit. In the Buddhist tradition the only information available is that they were disciples of Buddha, as such it is all the more difficult to give any conclusive comment about them.
As regards Vedic tradition 154 a Rishi named Bahuvrakta is mentioned. He is believed to have written some aphorisms in Rigveda, But it is hard to find some connection with Bahuk of Rishibhashit. Mahabharat155 also mentions Bahuk. There he has been stated to be a warrior of the Vrishni clan. Also in Mahabharat, the name of the father of king Sagar is mentioned as Bahuk. King Nala was also known by the
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