is the name of a 6th or 7th century Sanskrit grammarian, and of a Sanskrit poet of roughly the same period. It is not known whether the two are the same person.

The Grammarian

He theorized the act of speech as being made up of three stages:

1. Conceptualization by the speaker (Paśyanti "idea")
2. Performance of speaking (Madhyamā "medium)
3. Comprehension by the interpreter (Vaikharī "complete utterance").

is of the shabda-advaita "word monistic" school which identifies language and cognition. He introduces the Sphota doctrine of meaning. According to George Cardona, "Vakyapadiya is considered to be the major Indian work of its time on grammar, semantics and philosophy."

The Poet

In popular legend, he is identified with Bharthari, a king who, after learning of his wife's infidelity, renounced society and retired to the solitary life of an ascetic. His poetry displays the depth and intensity of his renunciation as he vacillates between the pursuits of fleshly desires and those of the spirit. This is most evident in the Vairagyasataka, the third and final section of the Satakatraya, which is translated by Sanskrit scholar Barbara Stoler Miller as Refuge in the Forest. The first and second sections are the Nitisataka or Among Fools and Kings and the Srngarasataka or Passionate Encounters.

Editions

• Wilhelm Rau, Vākyapadīya / die mūlakārikās nach den Handschriften hrsg. und mit einem pāda-Index versehen, Wiesbaden : Steiner, 1977, Abhandlungen für die Kunde des Morgenlandes 42,4
• Wilhelm Rau, Vākyapadīya II : Text der Palmblatt-Handschrift Trivandrum S.N. 532 (= A), Stuttgart : Steiner, 1991, Abhandlungen der Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaftlichen Klasse, Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur Nr. 7, ISBN 3-515-06001-4 Poetry
• M.R. Kāle Nīti and Vairāgya Śatakas of , Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 81-208-0642-5
• B. Hale, The Śatakas of , London : Trübner, 1886, repring Routledge 2000, ISBN 0-415-24510-9

References

• K. Raghavan Pillai (trans.), Bhartrihari. The Vâkyapadîya, Critical texts of Cantos I and II with English Translation Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1971.
• Coward, Harold G., The Sphota Theory of Language: A Philosophical Analysis, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1980.
• Herzberger, Radhika, Bhartrihari and the Buddhists, Dordrecht: D. Reidel/Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1986.
• Houben, Jan E.M., The Sambanda Samuddesha and Bhartrihari's Philosophy of Language, Groningen: Egbert Forsten, 1995.
• Iyer, Subramania, K.A., Bhartrihari. A Study of Vâkyapadîya in the Light of Ancient Commentaries, Poona: Deccan College Postgraduate Research Institute, 1969, reprint 1997.
• Shah, K.J., "Bhartrihari and Wittgenstein" in Perspectives on the Philosophy of Meaning (Vol. I, No. 1. New Delhi.)1/1 (1990): 80-95.
• Saroja Bhate, Johannes Bronkhorst (eds.), - philosopher and grammarian : proceedings of the First International Conference on , University of Poona, January 6-8, 1992, Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, 1997, ISBN 81-208-1198-4
• Patnaik, Tandra, Śabda : a study of Bhartrhari’s philosophy of language, New Delhi : DK Printworld, 1994, ISBN 81-246-0028-7.
• Maria Piera Candotti, Interprétations du discours métalinguistique : la fortune du sūtra A 1 1 68 chez Patañjali et , Kykéion studi e testi. 1, Scienze delle religioni, Firenze University Press, 2006, Diss. Univ. Lausanne, 2004, ISBN 978-88-8453-452-1

External links

• Bhartrihari at Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
• Satakatraya etext
• http://www.poetry-portal.com/poets45.html