This so-called ‘critical edition’ (with translation) of the first Ahnika of Bhartrhari’s Mahabhasyadipika is no more, can be no more, than an attempt to make sense of an often unintelligible text, handed down in one incomplete manuscript. This being the case, it can in no way claim to be final. Other reconstructions and interpretations based on the same text can often be conceived, and it is not usually possible to ascertain which of these will be closet to Bhartrhari’s original text and meaning. Only in exceptional cases is it possible to reconstrue an original reading with some degree of certainty. Examples where this is possible are, first of all, quotations from earlier works, and quotations from Bhartrhari in later works. In almost all other cases any emendation of the text is bound to be conjectural.
It is for this reason that all serious students of the Mahabhasyadipika will want to use, besides this edition, a copy of the manuscript as well as the two other editions of the texts. As, therefore, all available evidence is at the disposal of the reader, manuscript readings have not been recorded in footnotes.
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