Bhartrihari

Hindu philosopher

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History

Bhartrihari (born 570? ce, Ujjain, Malwa, India—died 651?, Ujjain) was a Hindu philosopher and poet-grammarian, author of the Vakyapadiya (“Words in a Sentence”), on the philosophy of language according to the shabdadvaita (“word nondualism”) school of Indian philosophy.

Of noble birth, Bhartrihari was attached for a time to the court of the Maitraka king of Valabhi (modern Vala, Gujarat), where most likely his taste for sensuous living and material possessions was formed. Following the example of Indian sages, he believed he had to renounce the world for a higher life. Seven times he attempted monastic living, but his attraction to women caused him to fail each time. Though intellectually he presumably understood the transitory nature of worldly pleasures and felt a call to Yoga and ascetic living, he was unable to control his desires. After a long self-struggle, Bhartrihari became a yogi and lived a life of dispassion in a cave in the vicinity of Ujjain until his death.

Three of the works attributed to Bhartrihari are titled shataka (“century”): the Shringara (love)-shataka, Niti (ethics and polity)-shataka, and Vairagya (dispassion)-shataka. Most schoalars are confident only that the first is his. Another work sometimes attributed to Bhartrihari, the Bhattikavya (“Poem of Bhatti”), performs linguistic gymnastics to demonstrate the subtleties of Sanskrit.