[INDOLOGY] The meaning of "bhāvanādharmaḥ"

[Shrikant Bahulkar]

As you point out, the Tibetan translation is just mechanical and of no
help. If no solution is found, it would be better to keep the term as it is
for the time being and explain the problem in a footnote.

On Tue, 23 Sept 2025, 17:02 Shrikant Bahulkar, <shrikant.bahulkar at gmail.com>
wrote:

> 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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