________________
132
HAJIME NAKAMURA
could be interpreted in different ways.
(2) Hithertofore it has been generally supposed that Bhartṛhari died forty years before I-tshing sojourned in India, following the information given by I-tsing himself.24 Accordingly Bhartṛhari was regarded by J. Takakusu to have died in 651-652 A. D. If we examine this passage more closely, however, it becomes clear that in I-tsing's information there is something amiss. I-tsing said that Bhartṛhari "was a contemporary of Dharmapala",25 and yet also that Dharmapāla composed a commentary upon Bhartṛhari's verses "26 These two are not consistent with each other. Let us discuss this problem.
Dr. Hakuju Ui27 took the passage as meaning that Bhartṛhari died forty years before the beginning of I-tsing's stay in the Nālandā monastery. According to his calculation Bhartṛhari died c. 630 A. D. In the above-cited passage, however, he is said to have been a contemporary of Dharmapala who commented upon the Prakirņaka of Bhartṛhari. The date of Dharmapala is wellknown; he lived 530-561 A. D. Now, Bhartṛhari must have been somewhat Dharmapala's senior. Suppose that the former was older than the latter by, say, ten years; then Bhartṛhari should have lived c. 520-630. If we adopt Takakusu's view, he must be supposed to have lived c. 520-652. Needless to say, this supposition is absurd. We are brought to the conclusion that either (1) the information that "Bhartṛhari died forty years before I-tsing" is wrong or (2) the information that Dharmapāla commented upon Bhartṛhari's work is wrong. We shall take up this problem in another light. Mr. H. R. Rangaswamy Iyengar 28 made clear the fact that Bhartṛhari lived in an age not so remote from that of Vasubandhu. He asserts as follows:
"In the second Kanda of the Vakyapadiya, while describing how the science of grammar, which had been almost extinct, was restored and propagated by the great grammarians, Chandra and Vasurāta, Punyarāja, the commentator of the Vakyapadiya, mentions several times Vasurata as the teacher of Bhartṛhari.29 In the Karika 490 of the Vakyapadiya 30 Bhartṛhari himself seems to refer to his teacher Vasurāta by 'Guruna' as is evident from the words of
24 "It is forty years since his death (A. D. 651-652)." (J. Takakusu: A Record of the Buddhist Religion as Practised in India and the Malay Archipelago. Oxford 1896. p. 180)
25 J. Takakusu: op. cit., p. 179. 26, Taishō, vol. LIV, p. 229.
27 E vol. V, p. 130.
28 H. R. Rangaswamy Iyengar: "Bhartṛhari and Dignaga" (Śri Atmananda Prakasa, published by "Jain Atmananda Sabha ", Bhavnagar, 1952, p. 27 f. The author obtained a copy by courtesy of Mr. Muni Jambuvijay).
29 na tenāsmadguros tatrabhavato Vasurätäd anyah kaścid imam bhāṣyärṇavam avagähitum. alam ity uktam bhavati (Punyarāja ad II, 486). kenacic ca brahmarakṣasāniya Candracārya-Vasurătaguruprabhṛtinam datta iti / te [taiḥ?] khalu yathāvat vyākaraṇasya svarupam tata upalabhya satatam ca siṣyāṇām vyākhyāya bahuśākhitvam nito vistaram präpita ity anuśruyate (ad II, 489). 30 Cf. II, 490b: pranito guruṇāsmākam ayam agamasamgrahaḥ.
