A Brief Overview of Bhartrihari’s Hundred Verses on Detachment

Bhartrihari is one of the important poets of Sanskrit Literature. It is said that he belonged to the first century B.C and that he was the elder brother of King Vikramaditya, the great ruler of Ujjain.

Bhartr̥ihari was not only a great King. He was a great scholar, a great poet, a great Yogi, a versatile genius and above all a great Vedantin. He has written many works in Sanskrit. Three of them are popular poems consisting of one hundred verses each. They are-the Shringara Satakam, the Niti Satakam and the Vairagya Satakam. Satakam means a work consisting of 100 verses.

Vairagya Satakam is a philosophical work dealing with the subject of liberation. Vairagyam means detachment. So, this work deals with the subject of Vairagyam as a pre requisite for liberation.

This book gives a brief overview of this poem.