Bhoga Karika of Sadyojyoti with the Commentary of Aghora Siva.

• Position: Book review

Bhoga Karika of Sadyojyoti with the Commentary of Aghora Siva. By W. A. BORODY. Delhi: MOTILAL BANARSIDASS, 2005. Pp. xi + 174. Rs. 395.

The Bhogakarika is a brief philosophical work of 146 Sanskrit verses by the Saiva Siddhanta author Sadyojyoti, who probably flourished in northern India or Kashmir in the eighth century C.E. Author of several commentaries and independent works, Sadyojyoti was the most important teacher in setting out the philosophical foundation for the dualistic Saiva Siddhanta theology as it developed in Kashmir, South India, and other areas in the early medieval period. The Bhogakarika deals, as the title implies, with bhoga or worldly experience in the broad sense, and also with the release from worldly bondage, moksa. In the twelfth century the South Indian Saiva Siddhanta master Aghorasiva composed a brief commentary on Sadyojyoti's work.

In this volume W. A. Borody provides a useful English translation of the Bhogakarika and of Aghorasiva's vrtti. He also includes the transliterated Sanskrit text in an appendix, and a brief introduction to the work and its author. The text and commentary have been published twice previously, in a collection of brief Saiva philosophical texts known as the Astaprakarana. However, this is the first translation into English of the Bhogakarika, and that makes this a significant contribution to the literature on the early development of medieval Saiva Siddhanta.

In the first verse Sadyojyoti announces that he will here follow the teachings of Ruru in his explication of bhoga. This links the text to the Rauravagama, or more specifically to its vidya portion known as the Raurava-sutrasamgraha. The theology he expounds in the following verses will be familiar to students of Saiva Siddhanta in its broad outlines. Sadyojyoti speaks of the three primordial categories of the Lord (pati), souls (pasu), and fetters (pasa). The Lord Siva is the unchanging Absolute who nevertheless instigates all change in the cosmos through his...