Vakyapadiya of Bhartrihari
by K. A. Subramania Iyer | 1965 | 391,768 words
The English translation of the Vakyapadiya by Bhartrihari including commentary extracts and notes. The Vakyapadiya is an ancient Sanskrit text dealing with the philosophy of language. Bhartrhari authored this book in three parts and propounds his theory of Sphotavada (sphota-vada) which understands language as consisting of bursts of sounds conveyi...
This book contains Sanskrit text which you should never take for granted as transcription mistakes are always possible. Always confer with the final source and/or manuscript.
Verse 2.69
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 2.69:
啶多啶曕啶侧ぞ啶︵く啷� 啶椸啶｀ぞ啶� 啶膏え啷嵿い啷� 啶ぅ啶� 啶むい啷嵿ぐ啶距さ啶苦さ啶曕啶粪た啶むぞ啶� 啷�
啶むぅ啶距そ啶掂た啶掂啷嵿し啶� 啶啶︵ぞ啶ㄠぞ啶� 啶︵啶班さ啷嵿く啶む啶掂じ啶灌啶距ぐ啶苦ぃ啶距ぎ啷� 啷� 啷ク 啷�艣ukl膩dayo gu峁嚹佱弗 santo yath膩 tatr膩vivak峁t膩岣� |
tath膩'vivak峁Ｄ� bhed膩n膩峁� dravyatvasahac膩ri峁嚹乵 || 69 ||69. Just as qualities like white, though present (in the rice) are not meant to be conveyed (by the word 惫谤墨丑颈=rice) in the same way, the universals of being particular substances which co-exist with substance in general (dravyatva) are not meant to be conveyed.
Commentary
[A word does not express as its meaning everything that exists in an object. An object, to be expressed by a word, depends upon the desire of the speaker to speak about it. Even existing objects do not exist as meanings of words. The speaker鈥檚 desire to speak about a thing depends upon the capacity of the form of the word to express it: 谤奴辫补蝉腻尘补谤迟丑测补苍颈产补苍诲丑补苍腻 as the 痴峁泃迟颈 puts it. Due to the natural power of words, the verb cannot denote the colour which exists in the substance in general which it brings to the mind. Similarly, the verb cannot denote all the particular substances in which dravyatva co-exists with their particular universal.]
The purpose of substitution is now stated.