Word, Time, and Creation: The Temporal Doctrine in Bhartṛhari’s Philosophy of Grammar

This paper explores the category of time in the philosophy of the Grammarians, primarily in Bhartṛhari’s Vākyapadīya. It argues that thinkers of this school incorporated and adapted earlier conceptualizations of time, including ancient Vedic views and ideas from the kālavāda, and examines the resulting doctrines in detail. The Grammarians’ temporal doctrine culminates in the Vākyapadīya, Bhartṛhari's seminal treatise integrating grammar and philosophy. For Bhartṛhari, time is the creative power of the Absolute Word (Word-Brahman), capable of creating, sustaining, and destroying all existing objects, through which the unmanifest Absolute becomes manifest. This paper provides a comprehensive account of Bhartṛhari’s concept of time, explains why this category occupies such a prominent place in his system, and demonstrates how he resolves apparent contradictions in the conceptualization of time, including its dual nature, simultaneous divisibility and indivisibility, and its coexistence with the Absolute Word.