Vakyapadiya (study of the concept of Sentence)
by Sarath P. Nath | 2018 | 36,088 words
This page relates ‘Commentaries of Vakyapadiya� of the study on Vakyapadiya by Bhartrhari and his treatment of the Concept of Sentence in Language. Bhartrhari was a great grammarian and philosopher who explored the depth and breadth of Sanskrit grammar. These pages analyse the concepts and discussions on sentence and sentence-meaning presented in the Vakyapadiya, against the different systems of knowledge prevalent in ancient India (such as Mimamsa, Nyaya and Vyakarana).
6.2 (c). Commentaries of ⲹ貹īⲹ
The text of ⲹ貹īⲹ has been commented upon by several scholars, but most of these commentaries are not available for the complete text. Ancient commentaries of ⲹ貹īⲹ are available for several cantos of the text, while some later commentaries are up to the end of the text. Ancient commentaries include ṛtپ by Harivṛṣabha, Ṭīk of ʳṇyᲹ, Paddhati of ṛṣdeva and Commentary of Helārāja. There are some modern commentaries also, which emphasise on imparting a clear idea of the verses of ⲹ貹īⲹ for the students. A brief analysis of the commentaries of ⲹ貹īⲹ is given here.
1. ṛtپ
There is an old tradition, which says that ṛh himself had written a commentary on ⲹ貹īⲹ, named ṛtپ. This is probably the oldest commentary available on ⲹ貹īⲹ. I-tsing, the Chinese traveller, who visited India in 670 CE, records that ṛh had written a work containing 700 첹 and ṛh himself had written a commentary on it consisting 7000 첹. If so, the original commentary is in the form of 첹, but it is available in the form of prose commentary. In the commentary of ṇḍ, the name of the author is found as Harivṛṣabha (iti śrī Harivṛṣabhamahāvaiyākaraṇaviracite Vākyapadīye āgamasamuccayo 峾 ṇḍ� ٲ, 2006, p.236). Many scholars in Sanskrit explains the word ' ṛṣ' in praise of Hari (ṛh), just as Indra in Ի. This commentary is available for the first two ṇḍ. The commentary of first canto is available in full, but there are many gaps in that of the second canto.
The authorship of this commentary has been recently questioned by scholars like Ashok Aklujkar. He discusses the problem elaborately in his article titled "The Authorship of ⲹ貹īⲹ-ṛtپ", published in 1972. He sets forth many evidences to prove that the author of the 첹 and that of the prose commentary are not the same (181-198). Anyway, there is a scope for more authentic research to draw any conclusion in this regard.
2. ʳṇyᲹ
ʳṇyᲹ is believed to be born in Kashmir in the last decades of 800 CE. The details about the life of ʳṇyᲹ have not come to light fully. He himself says that he was known as Բ첹śū and studied the entire second canto of ⲹ貹īⲹ from Śśṅkśṣy (V ṇiԾ Limaye and K V Abhyankar, Appendix II, 1965, p.213). Vāmanācārya, who authored 屹ṅkūٰ, was known to be the disciple of Śśṅk. If Śśṅk, who is referred to by ʳṇyᲹ and the teacher of Vāmanācārya are the same, then ʳṇyᲹ should be flourished after 峾Բ, whose date is known to be in 800 CE (M Srimannarayana Murthy, 1997, p.13). These are the available details about the life of ʳṇyᲹ. But M S Murthy holds that this information is subject to controversy.
ʳṇyᲹ wrote commentaries on the first and second canto of ⲹ貹īⲹ. The first two cantos along with the Ṭīk of ʳṇyᲹ have been published by Benares Sanskrit Series, Benares in 1884. But the available commentary on the first canto has many gaps in it and hence cannot be taken as complete. Fortunately the Ṭīk on the second canto including the ṛtپ of Harivṛṣabha is available in full. Peri Sarveswara Sharma is of the opinion that the commentary on the first canto is an abridged version of ṛh's own ṛtپ and it is wrongly attributed to ʳṇyᲹ (1972, p.3).
ʳṇyᲹ has also composed a synopsis of the contents of the second canto of ⲹ貹īⲹ at the end of his commentary. He comprises almost all the essential points of the second canto in 59 verses. The verses are written in a lucid style, that the students and scholars can easily enter into the concepts of ⲹ貹īⲹ.
3. Helārāja
Helārāja has composed commentary on all the three cantos of ⲹ貹īⲹ, but his ʰīṇaś, the commentary on the third canto alone is extant now.
In one of the introductory verses of his commentary on third ṇḍ, Helārāja says:
ṇḍdvaye ⲹٳ屹ṛtپ siddhāntārthasatattvata�
prabandho vihito'ísmabhirāgamārthānusāribhi� (7-8).
Thus it is observed that he has written commentaries on the first two cantos. The commentary on the first ṇḍ was named as Ś岹.
Helārāja himself says that:
"vistareṇāgamaprāmāṇyam vākyapadīye'ë smābhi� prathamakāṇḍe śabdaprabhāyām nirṇītam"
�(1994, p.54).
Aklujkar holds that Helārāja's commentary on ṇḍ was named as Ś岹 and that on the second ṇḍ as Vākyaṇḍṭīka or ⲹī貹 (1972, p.193). References can be found that Helārāja has composed another three works viz. Advayasiddhi (ⲹ貹īⲹ, 1994, p.117), 屹첹 (ⲹ貹īⲹ, 1994, p.60) and پDzԳṣa (ⲹ貹īⲹ, 1994, p.149). But none of which is available now. Among these works, پDzԳṣa, as the name indicates, was an explanation of ٲⲹԲ's پ첹. 屹첹 was intended to establish action () as the main idea expressed by a sentence. The third, named Advayasidhi, seems to have been a work on ś屹ٲ or linguistic monism (Coward and Raja, 2007, p.193).
A few references of the personal details of Helārāja can be found in his commentary ʰīṇaś. Helārāja gives the following information about himself in the last portion of his commentary on Padaṇḍ.
He says that Helārāja, the son of Bhūtirāja, born in the family of ṣaṇa, who was a generous minister at the court of wealthy and famous Kashmiri King, popular with the name of Muktāpīḍa, composed this commentary called ʰś.
muktāpīḍa iti prasiddhimagamat kāśmīradeśe ṛp�
śī khyātayaśā babhūva nṛpatestasya prabhāvānuga�
Գٰī lakṣaṇa ityudāracaritastasyānvaye bhavo
helārāja imam prakāśamakarocchrī bhūtirājātmaja�.
�(ⲹ貹īⲹ, 3.14, Helārāja, 1-2)
Abhinavagupta, who have studied with Bhūtirāja, refers to the son of Bhūtirāja, whom he calls 'Indurāja'. Raja argues that Abhinavagupta refers to Helārāja in some passages as; he is credited with having written a grammatical work named ʰīṇa첹ṇa. This is probably the commentary of ⲹ貹īⲹ by Helārāja known as ʰīṇa첹ś (Coward and Raja, 2007, p.193). It is evident that ṇa, in his famous work Ჹٲṅgṇ�, refers to a King called Lalitāditya Muktāpīḍa, who lived in Kashmir at about 650-736 CE (2009, p.130). ṇa also says that the King has many ministers in his court (2009, p.144). ṣaṇa may have been one of these ministers. From these references, scholars conclude that Helārāja lived in the second half of 10th century CE.
Helārāja's commentary on the third canto appears in the manuscripts sometimes as ʰīṇaś and sometimes as ʰīṇa첹ś. Both may be deemed correct because the real name of the commentary is ʰś and ʰīṇa or ʰīṇaka is the name of the third canto of ⲹ貹īⲹ. While we go through the commentary, it can be found that Helārāja composed it according to the ṛtپ of ṛh. In the opening verse itself he says " ⲹٳ屹ṛtپ", which means, this commentary is in accordance with the ṛtپ (Helārāja, p.1). This makes the commentary more authentic. Several chapters in the Padaṇḍ seem to be very difficult to understand as they deal with certain complicated philosophical as well as linguistic problems. Helārāja's commentary helps to have a vivid understanding of those complicated ideas. While going through the verses of ṛh, sometimes we may get confused to determine ṛh's own view, since he also quotes the views of others. In such situations, Helārāja distinguishes ṛh's views from others. While explaining the concept of time () in ܻś, ṛh states that some call it as śپ, while others call it as 𱹲 (ⲹ貹īⲹ, 3.7.62). Helārāja, commenting on this verse, opines that ṛh is of the view that time as power (śپ). To satisfy this, he refers to the third verse of the ṇḍ which reads together with the ṛtپ (ⲹ貹īⲹ, 5). There are some gaps in this commentary; so says K A S Iyer. He says that all the manuscripts contain the indication of some scribe that the gaps have been filled up with the commentary of one Phullarāja (Introduction, 1994, p.13-14)
4. ṛṣdeva
A commentary of ⲹ貹īⲹ called Paddhati is attributed to ṛṣdeva. He commented upon ṛh's 첹 and the ṛtپ together. The Paddhati commentary also is available for the first canto only.
From the introductory verses of the commentary, we may get some information about the author.
vimalacaritasya rājño ṣa� śri viṣṇuguptadevasya bhṛtyena tadanubhāvācchridevayaśastanujena bandhena vinodārtha� śrīvṛṣabheṇa sphuṭākṣaram 峾 kriyate Paddhatireṣa vākyapadīyodadhe� sugamā. (1)
It can be deduced from this verse that ṛṣdeva was the son of Śridevayaśa, who was in the court of King Sri Viṣṇuguptadeva. ṛṣdeva mentions that there were many scholars who commented upon ⲹ貹īⲹ before him. Unfortunately, none of which are available now. According to S Murthy, ṛṣdeva is supposed to have lived before the first half of 8th century CE (1997, p.28). Again he opines that ṛṣdeva have commented upon the first two cantos along with the ṛtپ, but the commentary on the second canto is not available. The style of commentary is lucid that even those who do not enter into the realm of grammar can understand the verses and ṛtپ of ⲹ貹īⲹ by this commentary. This is probably the only ancient commentary available for the first canto, which follows the traditional style of commenting śٰ works. The word Paddhati in Sanskrit signifies path, way, manner etc. Hence as the name indicates, this commentary pays a path to enter into the philosophical treatise ⲹ貹īⲹ.
5. Dravyesa Jha
Sanskrit grammarians consider ⲹ貹īⲹ as authentic as Ѳṣy of ʲٲñᲹ. Hence this text has been included in the curriculum from old days. The verses of ⲹ貹īⲹ are so complicated that even the students of grammar are not able to understand the meaning easily. Hence some scholars have written commentaries to enter the students easily into the text. Dravyesa Jha, a famous scholar in Sanskrit grammar composed a commentary ʰٲٳś on the first canto of ⲹ貹īⲹ, in this dimension. This was published from Vrindavan in 1926. The commentary is only for the verses of ⲹ貹īⲹ, but not for the ṛtپ. While we go through the commentary, it can be noted that the author puts his mind on a brief meaning of each verse. He had no intentions to compose an elaborated commentary to untie the complicated issues which are conceived in the 첹 of ṛh.
6. Suryanarayana Sukla
屹ī貹, a commentary on the ṇḍ of ⲹ貹īⲹ is written by Suryanarayana Sukla, which was published initially in 1937. Later it was published from Chaukhamba Sanskrit Sansthan, Varanasi, which has many editions also.
The author acknowledge his intension to write this commentary in the text as follows:
tasya paramopādeyatāmālocya tattatparikṣādhyakṣai� vyākaraṇācārya parikṣāyām niveśitasya tasya yathārtham arthāvabodhāya saralam anviṣyadbhi� chātrai� tadalābhena prārthitena ⲹ貹īⲹbhāvapradīpanāmnī viracayya viśveśvaracaraṇakamalayo� samarpya bhavatā� karakamalayo� upahārīkriyate. (S Sukla, 1937, acknowledgement)
We can understand from this passage that this commentary is also actually intended for the students to have a clear idea of the verses of ⲹ貹īⲹ. In a thorough evaluation, we can say that this is equally helpful for the scholars also.
The commentator says about the nature of the commentary in the opening verse as:
ī貹ⲹ ⲹ bhāśyam vigāhya tantrāntaram āgamāmśca
vitanyate vākyapadīyabhāvapradīpa eṣo'titarāmudāra�.
�(Suryanarayana Sukla, 1)
This verse shows that he wrote 屹ī貹 commentary, absorbing the views from Ѳṣy of ʲٲñᲹ along with the commentary ʰī貹 by ⲹṭa as well as other tantras or schools of thought. He quotes from other texts also to give a clear idea of ṛh's verses, wherever necessary. While commenting upon the 31st of ⲹ貹īⲹ, Sukla quotes from Śǰ첹پ첹. In the same manner he refers to many other texts, which makes the commentary lucid as well as authentic.
7. Raghunatha Sarma
Raghunatha Sarma, a famous Sanskrit scholar not only in Grammar but in other Schools of thought, wrote a commentary on ⲹ貹īⲹ, which is equally praised by scholars and students. Probably this commentary, named 첹ٰī is the only commentary available for the whole text of ⲹ貹īⲹ along with the ṛtپ. In addition to this, he has included all the available authentic commentaries in his work. In the introduction to this commentary on the first book of ⲹ貹īⲹ, K A S Iyer describes that the present commentary is helpful for students as well as scholars (Introduction, 2006, p.11). All the three cantos of ⲹ貹īⲹ along with the commentary 첹ٰī have been published from Sampurnananda Sanskrit Visvavidyalaya, Varanasi. The 첹ٰī commentary of the first canto of ⲹ貹īⲹ is published along with the DZ貹ñṛtپ, while the second canto is with the DZ貹ñṛtپ and Ṭīk of ʳṇyᲹ and the third canto is with the ʰīṇaś of Helārāja. Hence this edition can be taken as a complete reference about the text ⲹ貹īⲹ.
Sarma took 16 years to complete his commentary 첹ٰī on the whole ⲹ貹īⲹ. He admits that he wrote commentary on the first book of ⲹ貹īⲹ by studying the verses and ṛtپ of ṛh and Paddhati commentary of ṛṣdeva (acknowledgement). Though Raghunatha Sarma admits that he follows the commentary of ṛṣdeva, this commentary can be considered an independent work.
8. Vamadeva Acarya
Vamadeva Acarya wrote a commentary on the first canto of ⲹ貹īⲹ, which is named ʰپ. This is a bilingual commentary both in Sanskrit and Hindi. This is a later commentary published in 1987 from Chaukhamba Sanskrit Sansthan, Varanasi. Apart from following the traditional way of commenting a śٰ text, Vamadeva Acarya had a new approach to ⲹ貹īⲹ. The text has an elaborated preface, which expounds the ideas of ṛh in a new dimension.
9. Dr. K A Subramania Iyer
Dr. K A Subramania Iyer, a versatile scholar in more than one school of thought has set forth orginal concepts on ṛh and ⲹ貹īⲹ. He has critically edited all the three cantos ⲹ貹īⲹ along with the authentic commentaries. The first canto of ⲹ貹īⲹ is edited with the ṛtپ and the ancient commentary Paddhati of ṛṣdeva from Deccan College, Pune. The second canto is edited with the ṛtپ and Ÿī of ʳṇyᲹ, which has been published from Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi. He compiled and edited the third canto along with the ʰś commentary of Helārāja in two parts, which is published in Deccan College Series. He also translated all the three ṇḍ into English along with exegetical notes. A brief summary of the topics in each canto is also done by K A S Iyer. He has produced several orignal and authentic studies in the studies of ṛh and ⲹ貹īⲹ.
10. Dr. K Raghavan Pillai
There are several scholars from Kerala, who have endeavoured in the studies oh ⲹ貹īⲹ and ṛh. Dr. K Raghavan Pillai, who had been the Director and Professor of Sanskrit in the Oriental Research Institute and Manuscripts Library, Kerala University for a long time, have produced notable contributions in this regard. He has edited and translated the first two cantos of ⲹ貹īⲹ into English. Though several translations of ⲹ貹īⲹ are available, this translation is unique in its rendition. In the present translation, each verse is preceded by an introduction and followed by summary, commentary and notes. Dr. Pillai himself states that this style of translation will be helpful for the readers to comprehend the main points of each verse. He acknowledges that the style of the translation is similar to the one rendered to a śṣy by a Guru in the traditional way. The Translation consists of a brief but scholarly introduction, which is useful to both students and researchers.
11. Prof. M H Sastri
Some scholars from Kerala also have commented upon and translated ⲹ貹īⲹ into Malayalam. Prof. M H Sastri, who was a great scholar in more than one school of thought, wrote a commentary named Ჹٰܳīⲹ. As the author says, he had an intention to write this commentary in Malayalam, but with the inspiration of some students, he decided to compose it in Sanskrit, English and Malayalam. The author's name was actually Hariharaputra and hence the work was named Ჹٰܳīⲹ.