bhautika (-brahmacaarin)

[Peter Wyzlic]

On Mon, 22 Jul 2002, gruenendahl wrote:

> I haven't checked the Mahabharata passages yet, but in general,
> bhautika seems to be derived from, and refer to, the 5 gross
> elements of the material world (mahaa-bhuutas; somtimes also
> tanmaatras), occasionally to the bhuutas ("ghosts, spirits of the
> deceased"). But how do we get from there to bhautika = "a kind of
> monk"? Is "bhautika" to be understood as "worldly" = temporary,
> returning to a worldly existence? Do the Sastras say anything about
> that, I wonder? Are these bhautikas described anywhere?

Compare the Jaina satire called Bhara.takadv-atri.mzik-a. The Bhara.takas
are a sort of Shaiva ascetics depicted here as fools.  They are also
called bhauta, bhautika and ja.tin. See

Bhara.takadv-atri.mzik-a [Nagari script] = The thirty-two Bhara.taka
stories / ed. ... by Johannes Hertel. - Leipzig : Markert & Petters in
Komm., 1921. - 55 pp.

and

Zwei indische Narrenbücher : die zweiunddreißig
Bharataka-Geschichten und Somadewas Narrengeschichten /
vollständig verdeutscht von Johannes Hertel. - Leipzig : Haessel,
1922. - 222 pp. - (Indische Erzähler ; 5)

Hope it helps
Peter Wyzlic

-- 
Indologisches Seminar der Universitaet Bonn
Regina-Pacis-Weg 7
D-53113 Bonn / Germany