The Vakyapadiya of Bhartrhari: Chapter III Pt. I (A Rare Book)

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Foreword

On the 15th of October 1964 the Deccan College celebrates the centenary of its main Building, and curiously enough this period coincides with the Silver Jubilee of the Postgraduate and Research Institute which, as successor to the Deccan College, started functioning from 17th August 1939 when members of the teaching faculty reported on duty. When I suggested to members of our faculty the novel idea that the centenary should be celebrated by the publication of a hundred mono- graphs representing the research carried on under the auspices of the Deccan College in its several departments they readily accepted the suggestion. These contributions are from present and past faculty members and research scholars of the Deccan College, giving a cross-section of the manifold research that it has sponsored during the past twenty five years, From small beginnings in 1939 the Deccan College has now grown into a well developed and developing Research Institute and become a national centre in so far as Linguistics, Archaeology and Ancient Indian History, and Anthropology and Sociology are concerned. Its international status is attested by the location of the Indian Institute of German Studies (jointly sponsored by Deccan College and the Goethe Institute of Munich), the American Institute of Indian Studies and a branch of the Ecole Francaise d’Extreme-Orient in the campus of the Deccan College. The century of monographs not only symbolises the centenary of the original building and the silver jubilee of the Research Institute, but also the new spirit of critical enquiry and the promise of more to come.

Preface

This translation of the Karikas of the Vakyapadiya relates to the portion included in my critical edition of the Vakyapadiya of Bhartrhari, Kanda III, pt, i, with the commentary Prakasa of Helaraia, published as no. 21 of the Deccan College Monograph Series, Poona, 1963. In other words, it is a translation of the Karikas of the seven Samnuidesas, Jati, Dravya, Sambandha, Bhuyodravya, Guna, Dik and Sadhana. Though my edition includes the commentary of Helaraja, I have not translated it, because my interest was chiefly in the work of Bhartrhari, I have, however, given some brief notes after the translation of each Karika. In these notes, I have tried to state briefly the main point or points which Helaraja makes in his commentary. I have mentioned only points of general interest, relating to language in general or to the Sanskrit language. As I look upon Bhartrhari as one who has, in his Vakyapadiya, given a definite form to the contribution of Ancient India to General Linguistics, I have picked out of the commentary of Helaraja only those points which may be said to be related to General Linguistics, even though they may have been stated in connexion with the Sanskrit language. I have omitted all the points connected with prakriya, the process of derivation of the forms of the Sanskrit language according to the satras of Panini. Helaraja was a master of prakriya and his commentary abounds in references to it, sometimes with quotations from the Varttikas of Katyayana and the Mahabhasya of Patanjali. As my translation aims chiefly at bringing out ideas of a general nature, I have omitted these purely technical points.

Helaraja looks upon Bhartrhari as a vivartavadin and is anxious to emphasise this point in his explanation of the Karikas. It is in the Sambandhasamuddesa and the Kala- samuddesa that this comes out particularly clearly. We know from the Tattvasangraha of Santaraksita and its commentary Panjika of Kamalasila that already in the 8th century A.D., some interpreted Bhartrhari as a vivartavadin and others as parinamavadin. The earliest commentary on the Vakyapadiya, the Vrtti, looked upon by a more than thousand-year old tradition as that of Bhartrhari himself, though the colophon gives the name of the author as Harivrsabha, interprets the very first Karika of the work in terms of vivartavada.

In addition to giving a brief summary of the commentary of Helaraja in my notes, I have, in many places, added references to ancient works and some explanatory remarks. In some places, I have also pointed out emendations required in the text of the Karikas as printed in my edition of the Vakyapadiya, referred to above.

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