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XX - jīvikā dhātṛnirmitā or jīviketi bṛhaspatiḥ?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

Ramkrishna Bhattacharya
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Summary

At the end of the first chapter of the SDS, S-M quotes a number of verses and ascribes them to Bṛhaspati. One of them runs as follows:

agnihotraṃ trayovedās tridaṇḍaṃ bhasmaguṇṭhanam|

buddhipauruṣahīnānāṃ jīvikā dhātunirmitā (sic) ∥

J. Muir, the first English translator of this passage from the SDS, renders it thus:

The agnihotra sacrifice, the three Vedas, the mendicant's triple staff, and the practice of smearing oneself with ashes, are only a means of livelihood ordained by the Creator for men who have neither understanding nor energy.

The verse seems to strike an odd note. It is well known that Bṛhaspati, the eponymous founder of the Lokāyata doctrine, denied the existence of God, after-life, etc. Why should he speak of the Creator, dhātṛ?

Cowell indeed felt that there was something wrong here. He therefore translated dhātṛnirmitā as “made by Nature”. In a note he added, “I take Dhātṛi as God, or nature, speaking by common parlance. Dr Hall (Catalogue, p. 162) would seem to take Dhātṛi as the name of an author. —‘Dhātṛi may sometimes stand for Bṛihaspati’.”

There is no evidence elsewhere or in the lexicons that Bṛhaspati was also called Dhātṛ. In any case, even accepting that would be of no avail in the given context. How could Bṛhaspati or a mere author (as Hall would have it) make or ordain the livelihood of the ascetics?

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Studies on the Carvaka/Lokayata , pp. 207 - 212
Publisher: Anthem Press
Print publication year: 2011

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