[INDOLOGY] The meaning of "bhāvanādharmaḥ"

[Paul Thomas]

Thanks!  Indeed I have, and she was just as stumped as I am.  She left it
in Sanskrit.

On Tue, Sep 23, 2025 at 3:29 PM Shrikant Bahulkar <
shrikant.bahulkar at gmail.com> wrote:

> Have you checked an English translation of Paṭala II by Prof. Vesna
> Wallace?
>
> The Kālacakratantra : the chapter on the individual together with the
> Vimalaprabhā
>
> On Tue, 23 Sept 2025 at 12:33, Paul Thomas via INDOLOGY <
> indology at list.indology.info> wrote:
>
>> Hello Colleagues,
>>
>> I'm currently working on a translation of the *Vimalaprabhā *for the
>> 84000 translation project. The *Vimalaprabhā* is the most extensive
>> Indian commentary on the Buddhist *Laghukālacakratantra*, composed in
>> the earlier part of the eleventh century.
>>
>> There, I’ve come across the title of a text, or, more likely, a term for
>> a genre of texts that was current in medieval India at the time that the
>> *Vimalaprabhā* was composed.  The term comes in the commentary on
>> *Laghukālacakratantra* 2.96 that lists out false sources of knowledge (
>> *vidyā*), listing the Vedas with their ancillaries, the Smārta
>> doctrines, logic (Pramāṇa), the Śaiva Siddhānta, and the works (*śāstram*)
>> composed by Vyāsa (the *Mahābhārata*) and Vaiśvānara.  It is the last on
>> this list, the work(s) composed by Vaiśvānara that I can’t identify:
>>
>> *Laghukālacakratantra* 2.96ab:
>>
>> *vedaḥ sāṅgo na vidyā smṛtimatasahitas tarkasiddhāntayuktaḥ**śāstrañ
>> cānyad dhi loke kṛtam api kavibhir vyāsavaiśvānarādyaiḥ* |
>>
>> The commentary defines the works of Vaiśvānara, who, as I understand it,
>> is the god Agni, as the *bhāvanādharmaḥ*, using a construction parallel
>> to that used to describe the “teachings of the Purāṇas,” composed by
>> Mārtaṇḍeya (*mārtaṇḍeyakāvyaṃ* *purāṇadharmādayaḥ*). Therefore I think
>> *bhāvanādharmaḥ* here is not a title strictly speaking, but rather
>> should be interpreted to mean “the teachings of *bhāvanā,*” whatever
>> that may mean:
>>
>> *Vimalaprabhā* v. 1, p. 221:
>> *evaṃ śāstraṃ cānyad dhi loke kṛtam api kavibhir vyāsavaiśvānarādyair iti
>> vyāsakāvyaṃ bhārataṃ vaiśvānarakāvyaṃ bhāvanādharmaḥ | ādiśabdena
>> vālmīkikāvyaṃ rāmāyaṇaṃ mārkaṇḍeyakāvyaṃ purāṇadharmādayaḥ saṃgṛhītāḥ kṛtaṃ
>> kavibhir ebhir na vidyā* |.
>>
>> Some sources say that Vaiśvānara composed some of the hymns of the
>> Ṛgveda, but this doesn’t seem to be what is referred to here.  The Tibetan
>> translations are of no help, simply translating *bsgom pa’i chos* if I
>> recall, and neither does the Tibetan scholar mKhas grub rje (1385–1438) identify
>> what this is.
>> Any ideas?
>>
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>
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