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History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v1.c6.s60: 73. Bhavadevabhaṭṭa

History of Dharmaśāstra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v1.c6.s60

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73. Bhavadevabhaṭṭa

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The Vyavahāratattva of Raghunandana and the Vīramitrodaya tell us that Bhavadevabhaṭṭa composed a work called Vyavahāratilaka on judicial procedure. The Vyavahāratattva⁶⁷⁹ tells us that Bhavadeva read ‘astavyastapadavyāpī’ instead of ‘yadvyastapadamavyāpī’ in Kātyāyana’s verses enumerating the blemishes of *uttara* (defendant’s reply). The Vyavahāratattva⁶⁸⁰ mentions Bhavadevabhaṭṭa’s discussion and illustration of a reply (uttara) with a weak plea (kāraṇa). The same work informs us that Bhavadeva held the same views on adverse possession as Śrīkara, Bālaka and others did (vide note 624 above). The Vivādacandra of Misarumiśra⁶⁸¹ several times refers to the views of Bhavadeva. The Vīramitrodaya⁶⁸² gives in great detail the remarks of Bhavadeva on the well-known text of Sumantu about killing an *ātatāyin*. The Sarasvatīvilāsa⁶⁸³ and the Vaijayantī of Nandapaṇḍita quote the very same views of Bhavadevabhaṭṭa on Sumantu’s text.

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⁶⁷⁹ ' अस्तव्यस्तपदव्यापि अनन्वितार्थपदव्याप्तमिति व्यवहारतिलके भवदेवभट्टः ' । व्यवहारतत्त्व (p. 207, vol. II, Jivananda) ; भवदेवेन तु अस्तव्यस्तपदव्यापीति पाठं लिखित्वानन्वितार्थपदव्याप्तमिति व्याख्यातं व्यवहारतिलके । वीर० p. 85.

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⁶⁸⁰ दुर्बलकारणोत्तरं यथा ममेयं भूः क्रमागतत्वादिति वायुक्ते ममेयं भूर्दशवर्षभुज्यमानत्वादिति प्रत्युत्तरं तच्च धनमात्रप्रयुक्तं पश्यतोब्रुवतो हानिर्धनस्य दशवार्षिकीति याज्ञवल्कीयं बर्जिं किं तु नैतद्युक्तं परेण भुज्यमानाया भूमेर्विंशतिवार्षिकीति भूमिमात्रविषयकं तत्परार्धेनापादितत्वादिति भवदेवभट्टाः । व्यवहारतत्त्व p. 208.

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⁶⁸¹ यस्य दृश्येत सप्ताहादुक्तसाक्ष्यस्य साक्षिणः । अत्र यद्यपि भवदेवेन कृतदिव्यस्येति लिखितं तथाप्युक्तसाक्ष्यस्येत्यभिधानादकृतदिव्यस्यापि द्रष्टव्यं कृतदिव्यस्येति प्रायोवादः । विवादचन्द्र (folio 51a of D. C. ms. No. 57 of 1883-84); ‘भवदेवेन तु न रोगामिज्ञातिमरणं शुद्धिं तस्य विनिर्देशेदिति लिखितम् ।’ *ibid* (folio 55 b).

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⁶⁸² अत्र भवदेवभट्टः। न च सुमन्तुवचनेन नाततायिवधदोषोन्वत्र गोब्राह्मणादित्यनेन विरोधः सूत्रच्छेदापरिज्ञानात् । तथाहि सूत्रत्रयमिदम् । आततायिवधे नेत्येकम् । दोषोन्वत्रेत्यपरम् । गोब्राह्मणास्नातः प्रायश्चित्तं कुर्यादित्यन्यत् । वीर० p. 22.

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⁶⁸³ Vide स. वि. p. 154 (Mysore ed.). and वैजयन्ती on विष्णुधर्मसूत्र 5. 189 (I. O. cat. No. 915 folio 50a).

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The foregoing brief discussion shows that Bhavadeva’s Vyavahāratilaka must have been a valuable work on judicial procedure. Unfortunately that work has not yet come to light.

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Bhavadeva also wrote several other works.

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In the Deccan College collection there are two Mss. (No. 9 of 1895-98 and No. 263 of 1887-91) of a work of Bhavadeva variously named Karmānuṣṭhānapaddhati or Daśakarma-paddhati or Daśakarmadīpikā. M. M. Chakravarti in his informing article on Bhavadeva (J. A. S. B. 1912, pp. 333-348) says that the work has often been printed. I was not able to secure a copy. That work⁶⁸⁴ deals with the ten principal rites and ceremonies to be performed by Brāhmaṇas who study the Sāmaveda. The principal subjects are :—The *Homa* to the nine planets (*Navagraha-homa*), *mātṛpūjā*, *pāṇigrahaṇa* and other essential rites of marriage, *homa* on the fourth day after marriage, garbhādhāna, puṁsavana, sīmantonnayana, soṣyantīhoma (*homa* when a woman is on the point of delivery), jātakarma, niṣkramaṇa, nāmakaraṇa, annaprāśana, cūḍākaraṇa, upanayana, samāvartana (the student’s returning from the teacher’s house after finishing his studies), Śālākarma (first entrance in a new house).

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⁶⁸⁴ It begins चतुर्वदनसद्मस्थचतुर्वेदकुटुम्बिने । द्विजानुष्ठेशसत्कर्मसाक्षिणे ब्रह्मणे नमः ॥ गृह्यसूत्रार्थमालोक्य छन्दोगानान्वयं क्रमात् । कृता श्रीभवदेवेन कर्मानुष्ठानपद्धतिः ॥

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Another work of Bhavadeva, who is styled Bālavalabhī-bhujaṅga therein, is the Prāyaścittanirūpaṇa (I. O. cat. No. 1725 p. 554, Mitra’s notices, vol. IX, No. 3138, pp. 214-15). In that work he mentions over 25 smṛtikāras, the Matsya and Bhaviṣya purāṇas, Viśvarūpa, Śrīkara and Bāloka (? Bālaka). This work was held in high esteem, as the Smṛtiratnākara⁶⁸⁵ of Vedācārya places Bhavadeva after Manu among the authorities on prāyaścitta that he follows. The Varṣa-kriyā-kaumudī of Govindānanda (B. I. series) quotes a text from Bhavadevabhaṭṭa on the prāyaścitta for eating in a solar or lunar eclipse (p. 106).

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⁶⁸⁵ मन्वादिस्मृतिशास्त्रार्थं भवदेवादिंसंमतम्। प्रायश्चित्तमहं वक्ष्ये विज्ञाय पापनिवृत्तौ॥ स्मृतिरत्नाकर (I. O. cat. p. 473).

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There is yet another work of Bhavadevabhaṭṭa called Tautātitamatatilak, a ms. of which exists in the India Office (cat. No. 1591). It is doubtful whether that ms. contains the whole of the work. That work is concerned with elucidating the doctrines of the Pūrva-mīmāṁsā system from the standpoint of Kumārilabhaṭṭa (who is also called Tautātita). From the colophons at the end and elsewhere it appears that the work was intended to explain Jaimini I. 4 and II. 1, but in the body of the work contained in the Ms. only sūtras from the first *pāda* of the 2nd adhyāya are dwelt upon. Bhavadeva is styled Bālavalabhibhujaṅga here also and invokes a terrific curse⁶⁸⁶ upon those who would borrow from his work without acknowledging their debt. The work opens with the well-known sūtra ‘bhāvārthāḥ karmaśabdāḥ &c. (Jaimini II. 1. 1). It goes on explaining the principal topics of Jaimini's 2nd *adhyāya*, first *pāda*. The sūtras explained are II. 1. 1, 5, 9, 10, 13, 24, 30-35, 38, 40 46-49. It mentions the bhāṣyakāra (Śabara), Vārtika (folio 12 a), Gurumata (17b), Prabhākara (21b), Vārtikakārapāda (22 b, in the plural). It frequently quotes kārikās from the Tantravārtika with the words ‘taduktam.’ Hemādri⁶⁸⁷ quotes Bhavadeva’s explanation of the words of Kumārila allowing an option between *jāghanya* and *ājya* and disapproves of it. Vide Tri. cat. of Madras Govt. Mss. for 1919-1922 p. 5527 for the same work.

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⁶⁸⁶ The colophon at the end is इति श्रीबालवलभीभुजङ्गपरनाम्नो भट्टश्रीभवदेवस्य कृतौ तौतातितमततिलके द्वितीयस्याध्यायस्य प्रथमः पादः। यो नाम कश्चिदिह संविदितं प्रमेय ग्रंथान्तरे लिखति वा वदति स्वयं वा। मत्कर्तृताममनुकीर्त्य स कीर्तिलोपान्निःसंततिर्जगति जन्मशतानि भूयात्॥

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⁶⁸⁷ तथा च जाघन्याधिकरणसिद्धान्ते जाघन्याज्ययोर्विकल्पे वार्तिककृतोक्ते भवदेवेनोक्तम् । इदं स्विह वक्तव्यम् । कथं सामान्यविहितेनाज्येन विशेषविहितजाघन्याविकल्पः सर्वत्र सामान्यविशेषशास्त्रयोर्बाध्यबाधकभावोच्छेदप्रसङ्गात् । नैतत् । द्वयोरपि विशेषशास्त्रत्वात् । &c. चतुर्वर्ग० (कालनिर्णय) p. 120. Vide also p. 404 for another reference to भवदेव.

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Unexpected light is thrown on the personal history of Bhavadeva-bhaṭṭa by an inscription found in the temple of Ananta Vāsudeva at Bhuvaneśvara in the Puri District of Orissa edited by Kielhorn in E. I. vol. VI, p. 203, which eulogises Bhavadevabhaṭṭa, the identity of the author Bhavadeva with the person eulogised being established by the unique epithet, Bālavalabhībhujaṅga applied to the latter.⁶⁸⁸ The eulogy is composed by a person called Vācaspatikavi. Bhavadeva belonged to the Sāvarṇa gotra of the Kauthumī school of the Sāmaveda. The family belonged to Siddhala-grāma in Rāḍhā (west of the Hugli and south of the Ganges). Bhavadeva’s remote ancestor Bhavadeva obtained in gift the *agrahāra* of Hastinībhiṭṭa from the Gauḍa king. The father of Bhavadeva was Govardhana, a warrior and a scholar. His mother was Sāṅgokā, daughter of a Vandhyaghaṭīya Brāhmaṇa. With the advice of Bhavadeva king Harivarmadeva is said to have reigned long in prosperity. Bhavadeva is stated in the above mentioned inscription to have composed works on *horā* (astrology), *smṛti*, and *mīmāṁsā*. Bhavadeva is eulogised as a great builder. He constructed a reservoir of water in Rāḍhā, he set up a stone image of Nārāyaṇa and founded a temple in which he placed images of Nārāyaṇa, Ananta, ann Nṛsiṁha. He also gave to Harimedhas female attendants, dug a tank and laid out a garden. Neither Kielhorn nor Chakravarti has attempted any explanation of the epithet Bālavalabhībhujaṅga. I hazard an explanation. Bhavadeva probably made some innovation in the structure of the roofs or balconies of the temples he built and he was therefore styled a lover (a gallant or paramour) of little (*bāla*-small sized or girlish) *valabhīs*. From the nature of the character Kielhorn conjectured that the inscription belonged to the 12th century A. D.

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⁶⁸⁸ यस्य खलु बालवलभीभुजङ्ग इति नाम नादृतं केन । मीमांसायामपि सपुलकमाकर्णितवर्णितोद्गीतम् ॥ verse 24.

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The date of Bhavadeva can be approximately settled to be about 1100 A. D. as he is quoted by Hemādri, the Vivādacandra of Misaru and the Smṛtisāra of Harinātha. He is certainly earlier than 1200 A. D. A period of at least half a century must have elapsed before a Bengal writer like Bhavadeva came to be looked upon as an authority on mīmāṁsā by Hemādri who wrote in distant Berar. It appears that he was quoted in the Karmopadeśinī of Aniruddha (I. O. cat. No. 1853, p. 474). But that Ms. is bound up with another work by a later author and the reference in the cat. is not quite clear. If we rely on the Vīramitrodaya, a work called Pradīpa criticised the views of Bhavadeva on the verse of Yāj. II. 24 (about adverse possession for 20 and 10 years). Bhavadeva held that twenty years’ enjoyment of immovable property by a stranger implied that the real owner meant to abandon it for the benefit of the stranger enjoying it, that such abandonment for the enjoyment of another leads to the inference of the extinction of previous ownership and that the property being abandoned by the owner in favour of the stranger who takes hold of it, ownership also (of the stranger) arises. The Pradīpa⁶⁸⁹ points out that it does not invariably follow that, because a srranger is allowed to enjoy land, the owner intends to abandon the land for the stranger, nor is it an invariable rule that what is abandoned for another becomes the property of that other. It will be shown later on that the Pradīpa must have been composed before 1150 A. D. Hence it follows that Bhavadeva flourished about 1100. He cannot be very much earlier than that, as he is not mentioned by any writer of the 11th century and as he not only mentions Kumārila and Prabhākara, but also writers who criticised Prabhākara's views.

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⁶⁸⁹ भवदेवस्तु ... तस्मादेवं वाच्यं यदयं यथोक्तो भोगः पूर्वस्वामिनो भोक्तुरुद्देशेन त्यागात् तत्स्वत्वध्वंसमर्थापयति अनुमापयति वा । ... तथा च तदुद्देशेन त्यक्ते तत्परिग्रहणादेव परस्य तत्र स्वत्वमप्युपपद्यते । ... अत्र प्रदीपकृतः । यत्र हि मत्कृत्ये-(ष्ये !) दानीं नात्र फलसम्भावना तदधुना .तावत्पर एव भुक्त्वा (भुंक्तां !) पश्चादेतत्त्सकाशात्सफलोपभोगां भुवं ग्रहीष्यामीत्यभिसंधाय भूम्यादिस्वामी तत्र परोपभोगं क्षमते तत्रापि विंशत्यभ्यधिको भोगोस्ति स्वामिनस्तदुद्देशेन त्यागश्च नास्तीति व्यभिचारान्नेदृशभोगस्य पूर्वस्वामिस्वत्वत्यागे प्रामाण्यम् । किं च भूस्वामी सचेताः किमिति वृथैव तत्र स्वत्वं जह्यात् । न ह्यत्र दृष्टमुद्देश्यं नाप्यदृष्टं धर्मशास्त्रोकेतिकर्तव्यताविरहात् । ... नापि यदुद्देशेन यत्त्यज्यते तत्तस्य स्यामिति नियमः । उद्देश्येनागृहीते व्यभिचारात् । वीर० p. 212-14.

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There were several other later persons named Bhavadeva who wrote on topics of Dharmaśāstra such as Bhavadeva, author of Dānadharmaprakriyā (middle of 17th century), and Bhavadeva, the author of Smṛticandrikā, who flourished in the first half of the 18th century.

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On Bhavadeva's Karmānuṣṭhāna-paddhati there is a commentary called Saṁsārapaddhatirahasya.

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