My most worshiped Gurudev 108 Sri Srimad Ananta das Babaji Maharaj often speaks about King Bhartrihari, his renunciation and realizations. King Bhartrihari who was an administrator par excellence was also an incomparable renunciate. When his beloved wife Pingalaa cheated him, he abandoned the empire of Bharatvarsha and became a desire-free vairagi. Then he penned his musings famous as the ‘Shatakams’. They come under three headings – Erotic, Renunciation and Ethical. Here we shall present them one by one, but not necessarily in order, since each verse is complete in itself.

It is also interesting to note that Emperor Vikramaditya was the brother of King Bhartrihari, who got the chance to ascend the throne due to the unfortunate turn of incidents. He took India to the hallowed ‘Golden Age’ – the era of immense prosperity, dizzy heights of education, culture and literature.