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. Bhartr?ihari 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.