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 2.83
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 2.83:
啶多啷嵿い啶苦さ啷嵿く啶距お啶距ぐ啶啶︵啶洁じ啷嵿ぎ啶苦え啷� 啶げ啶い啷嵿ぐ 啶む 啶た啶︵啶い啷� 啷�
啶膏啶え啷嵿ぇ啶距啷嵿啶距い啶啶︵啶洁く啶� 啶啶︵じ啷嵿い啶む啶班ぞ啶掂た啶掂啷嵿し啶苦い啶� 啷� 啷ォ 啷�艣aktivy膩p膩rabhedo'smin phalamatra tu bhidyate |
sa峁僢andh膩jj膩tabhedo'ya峁� bhedastatr膩vivak峁ta岣� || 83 ||83. That here there is difference of power as well as of function, while there, there is a difference in the result, that here the distinction has arisen out of the (particular) relation while there the difference is insignificant.
Commentary
[Bheda or difference among actions is dealt with in 补诲丑测腻测补 II of the 惭墨.厂奴. As in the other cases, difference can be illustrated also by examples taken from the world and the 惫测腻办补谤补峁嘺-艣腻蝉迟谤补. Lightning can be described as follows: val膩hak膩d vidyotate=鈥榠t flashes from the cloud鈥�, val膩hake vidyotate=鈥榯here is a flash in the cloud鈥� val膩hako vidyotate=鈥榯he cloud flashes鈥�. In these three sentences, the cloud is described as the starting point (补辫腻诲腻苍补), the abode (补诲丑颈办补谤补峁嘺) and the agent (办补谤迟腻) of the act of flashing. There is difference in power and, according to that, grammar prescribes different endings. This is the difference in function. Sometimes, there is only difference in power. For example, in dhanu峁Ｄ� vidhyati=鈥榟e hits with the bow鈥�. Here there is only one case ending, the third one but there are two powers. The bow is thought of as an instrument of the act of hitting but it cannot be so unless it is the starting-point for the departure of the arrow. The bow is both 补辫腻诲腻苍补 and 办补谤补峁嘺, two distinct powers, but the former is not expressed. The making of a gift with a view to attain long life, health and prosperity is an instance of difference in result. When different suffixes expressing different agents are connected with the same root, the action expressed by this root also appears to be different. For example, pacati, pacanti. In the sentence paktvaudana峁� bhu峁卥te=鈥榟e cooks the rice and then eats it鈥�, there really ought to be a difference in the actions performed by the agent and the object, but this difference is not emphasised. Hence, there is only one agent for both actions.]
In addition to the foregoing arguments, the M墨m膩峁僺aka wants to put forward some others based chiefly on 惫测腻办补谤补峁嘺, in order to prove the existence of the individual word.