Studies On Bhartrhari 5 Bhartrhari And Vaisesika

Author(s): Johannes Bronkhorst
Publisher: Johannes Bronkhorst

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STUDIES ON BHARTRHARI, 5: BHARTRHARI AND VAISESIKA
Johannes Bronkhorst, Lausanne
There are reasons to think that Bharthari's writings may shed light on the early history of Vaiśesika. One of these is that he obviously knew the Vaišesika system. Almost all of its categories play a role in his work. Separate sections (samuddeśa) of the Vākyapadiya are dedicated to the categories jāti, dravya, guna and kriya. The relationship called samavāya - a special feature of Vaiśesika - is mentioned and used repeatedly. Vaiśesika substances appear as 'powers' (sakti), most notably kāla (time) and diś (space)
A second reason is Bhartrhari's chonological position. I have argued in another publication that Prasastapāda's Padārthadharmasarngraha; as well as Dignāga's Pramānasamuccayavrtti before it, were heavily indebted to the katandi, a work written not long before Dignāga. This Katandi, I further argued, exerted a dominating influence on all Vaiśesika literature that came after it, including perhaps the versions of the Vaiśesika Sutra itself, not to speak of the surviving commentaries on this Sūtra work.? Bhartrhari, on the other hand, lived long enough before Dignāga that someone different from Bhartrhari could write a commentary on the first two kändas of his Vakvapadiya still before Dignāga. Bhartrhari, therefore, lived and worked most probably before the katandī! If his work provides information on Vaiśesika, it would then be one of the very few sources of information dating form the pre-Katandi period of this system.
In what follows we shall consider some possible links between Bhartshari's Vākyapadiya and the Vaiśesika of his days.
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I thank A. Wezler and J. Houben for critical comments. The earlier articles in this series have appeared in the following periodicals: no. 1, Bulletin d'Etudes Indiennes 6 (1988), 105-143, no. 2, Studien zur Indologie und Iranistik 15 (1989), 101-117, no. 3, Asiatische Studien /Etudes Asiatiques 45 (1991), 5-18, no. 4, Asiatische Studien / Etudes Asiatiques 46, 1 (1992), 56-80. See Bronkhorst, forthcoming.
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