[INDOLOGY] The meaning of "bhāvanādharmaḥ"

[Shrikant Bahulkar]

I see.

On Tue, 23 Sept 2025, 15:17 Paul Thomas, <paulfthomas at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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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