Bhartrhari’s Vakyapadiya and Linguistic Monism (A Rare Book)

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On March 17—19, 1985, Professor Bishnupada Bhattacharya delivered at the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Poona, the Professor K. V. Abhyankcjr Memorial Lectures (Third Series) on “Bhartrhari’s Vikyapadiya and Linguistic Monism:

A Philosophical Study” and “Linguistic Speculations in Sanskrit Poetics “. His two lectures on the first theme are being published in this volume, which, though tiny in size, is, I believe, profound in contents.

Professor Bhattacharya, who has had the advantage of both traditional and modern training, served as Principal of the Government Sanskrit College, Calcutta, for a fairly long time, and is at present Research Professor in the Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Calcutta. His main field of work may be said to be Sanskrit language and grammar — or, to put it more specifically, the Nirukta of YAska. In his well-known book, Yaska’s Nirukta and the Sczence of Etymology (Calcutta, 1958), Professor Bhattacharya has sought, among other things, to give a complete picture of the pre-Yaska stage of the etymological science and an account of the eminent etymologists who were the first originators of that branch of study. He has also ably discussed such problems as those relating to Yska and äkalya, Yäska’s authorship of Nighaiu, the recensions of the .Nirukta, the lost treatise Niruktavarttika, the authors of the Nairukta school, and the different schools of Vedic interpretation. A mention needs to be made here also of Professor Bhattacharya’s A Study an Language and Meaning (Calcutta, 1962) in which he has critically examined some aspects of Indian semantics. Incidentally I am here reminded of an interesting paper on “Tagore’s aesthetics in the light of the Upanishads “, which Professor Bhattacharya has recently contributed to the Souvenir of the 30th All India Oriental Conference (Santiniketan, 1980), Therein he has shown how Tagore constantly uses Upaniadic terms and concepts, like prakaáa, III a, rasa, etc., to elucidate his views on art and how he emphasizes that the aim of art is essentially spiritual perfection (ö.tmasathskrtir vive alpine — Aid. Br. 6. 27). we were, indeed, happy and thankful to have had a scholar of Professor Bhattacharya’s stature as this year’s “Abeyance Lecturer “.

In the present lectures, Professor Bhattacharya has turned his searchlight on the philosophy of language. It is hoped that they will suitably supplement the lectures delivered by Professor K. A. Subramanian Ayer, under this very lectureship and on more or less the same theme, five years ago.