« He was the son of Vidyāsāgara, a great brahmin scholar, who lived in Pāṭalīputra. There is a legend about the birth of Bhartṛhari in Uttara Bhārata.
Vidyāsāgara while young learnt the Vedas from his guru. But he was not satisfied with that study and wanted to learn more about all śāstras and so he started on a tour to find out a guru who would teach him all he wanted. On his way he met several great scholars but none came up to his standard of a guru. One day tired after a long journey he reached a mountain valley. Washing his hands and feet in a nearby river and quenching his thirst he went and sat down under a banyan tree to rest. The cool breeze sent the tired brahmin to sleep and he slept.
A Brahmarākṣasa who was living on the top of the banyan tree when it became midday descended from the tree to perform the sacred rites of the day and found a man lying asleep. By the sacred thread on his body the Brahmarākṣasa surmised that the man was a brahmin and woke him up. Waking up Vidyāsāgara found to his surprise the bearded Brahmarākṣasa standing before him and after mutual enquiries Vidyāsāgara told him of his mission. The Brahmarākṣasa told him thus: « Boy, let your name Vidyāsāgara (ocean of learning) be true in your life. I am acquainted with many śāstras and I shall teach you everything I know. But there are certain conditions for the same which you have to observe. You must live with me for six months and should fast during that period behaving yourself as one under a vow. I shall, however, teach you a mantra which would help you to remain unaffected by hunger, thirst or sleep. If you are prepared to accept these terms and become my disciple I shall quench your thirst for knowledge. Vidyāsāgara willingly agreed to his terms and became his student.
Both of them then climbed on the banyan tree and the Brahmarākṣasa sat in his usual place on a branch on the tree and Vidyāsāgara on a branch just below it. The instructions started and continued for six months. Vidyāsāgara never felt thirst or hunger during that period. When the teaching was complete the Brahmarākṣasa bade farewell to his disciple and departed leaving his body behind.
Vidyāsāgara then got down from the tree and performed the obsequies of his guru. Vidyāsāgara while he was learning used to note down the instructions of the guru on the leaves of the banyan tree. It had come to a huge bundle on completion. Taking the bundle along with him Vidyāsāgara left for his country. By the time he left the forest area the power of the mantra faded and Vidyāsāgara began to feel the pangs of hunger and thirst. By dusk he reached Kaliṅga and there he came to the door of a dancing girl named Mandākinī. The door was locked as the owner was away in a Śiva temple nearby. Exhausted by the journey, hungry and thirsty, Vidyāsāgara lay down on the doorstep and soon fell asleep with the leaf-bundle as a pillow. Mandākinī when she returned from the temple at about ten at night saw a brahmin sleeping on the doorstep, tired and exhausted. She soon asked her servants to get him inside and sent for a doctor. By the clever treatment of the doctor and the expert nursing of Mandākinī, Vidyāsāgara survived. When he was fit for travel he started to go but Mandākinī objected and requested him to marry her. Vidyāsāgara did not agree to it and she took him to the King and told him all that had happened. Finding Vidyāsāgara to be one with great erudition and good manners he decided that Vidyāsāgara should marry his daughter (a Kṣatriya), daughter of his minister (a brahmin), daughter of Kulapati (a vaiśya), and also Mandākinī (a Śūdra). There was an injunction in those days that a brahmin should marry a Śūdra only after having married from all the higher castes. The decision of the King surmounted this difficulty for Vidyāsāgara to marry the śūdra girl, Mandākinī. Marriages were all conducted in order. The King’s daughter bore the name Kalāvatī, the minister’s Mālatī and Kulapati’s Sumaṅgalī. Each delivered a son. The brahmin boy was named Vararuci, the Kṣatriya boy, Vikramāditya, the Vaiśya boy, Bhaṭṭi and the Śūdra boy, Bhartṛhari. »
Puranic encyclopaedia, Story of Bhartṛhari, by Vettam Mani, 1975
Vâhana 