Bhartruhari's 'Shatakatrayam' शतक त्रय

19th Oct 2019

----*** My Aa ha moment **----
- Till now i was thinking of 'Shubhashitani' सुभाषितम्   as being the name of the work written by Bhartruhari. Because that's how we studied during our intermediate (10 + 2) classes.

Only today I got to know that
 सुभाषितम्  - means Good Counsel - and that it can be pulled out from any of the works!

Think of it as a Quote / Motto / Moral / Saying / Shayari  etc.

2nd 'better understanding' moment.
There is a very subtle connection between Sanskrit and Spirituality/religion. And I was of the opinion that when I say a verse it must ONLY be religion. Maybe its use was mostly so.
After starting the Shatakatriyam by Bhartruhari I realized that it ONLY a language using which our forefathers communicated. Because the entire Shatakatriyam is about 'Rules of life' based on the writers experience.

----*** Harih om ***-----

Bhartrhari's Shatakatryam शतक + त्रय

( शतक Means hundred -  त्रय means Three - In total Bhartrhari composed 300 verses. These were under three different categories such as

- Niti नीति Shatakam - 100 verses on 'Moral Philosophy or Ethics or Behavior'
- Shrngara शृङ्गार Shataka - 100 verses on 'portraying Beauty, Love and being Amorous'
- Vairagya वैराग्य  Shataka - 100 verses on 'Attaining freedom from Worldly Desires / Asceticism'

Niti Shataka नीति शतक

The 100 verses on 'Moral Philosophy or Ethics or Behavior' is further classified into 10 Paddati पद्धति
meaning - Ways. Ways in which each of these category of people should or would behave.

These 10 Paddati's are
1) Murka Paddati - मूर्ख पद्धति  - Ways of the Fools / Imbeciles
2) Vidvat Paddati - विद्वत्त पद्धति  - Ways of the Scholars

3) Maana Shourya Paddati - मान शौर्य पद्धति  - Ways of the Respect (maana) & Valour (Shourya)

4) Artha Paddati - अर्थ पद्धति  - Ways of the money / wealth / material posession

5) Durjana Paddati - दुर्जन पद्धति  - Ways of the evil or wicked people or bad people

6) Sujana Paddati - सुजन पद्धति   - Ways of the Kind people / gentle(wo)men

7) Paropakara Paddati - परोपकार पद्धति  - Upakara = help, para = others - Ways of good Samaritans

8) Dhairya Paddati - धैर्य पद्धति  - Ways of the brave & courageous

9) Deva Paddati - देव पद्धति  - Ways of the god & Impoderables

10) Karma Paddati - कर्म पद्धति  - Ways of Action & Consequence

Each of these paddati's have multiple Verses and provide a basic template for human behavior when interacting with others while following the path of Dharma.

I would post the individual verses and its meaning in my subsequent posts as and when I study them.

|| Om Tat Sat ||