born 570?, Ujjain, Malwa, India
died 651?, Ujjain
Indian Hindu philosopher, poet, and grammarian.
He was of noble birth; according to legend, he made seven attempts to renounce the world for monastic life before eventually becoming a yogi and moving into a cave near Ujjain. Vakyapadiya is his major work on the philosophy of language. Also ascribed to him are three collections of poetry, each containing 100 verses: Shrngara-shataka (on love), Niti-shataka (on ethics and polity), and Vairagya-shataka (on dispassion). His poem Bhatti kavya demonstrates the subtleties of Sanskrit.