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 2.365
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 2.365:
啶掂啶︵啶о啶ぞ啶︵啶ㄠぞ啶� 啶� 啶多ぞ啶膏啶む啶班啶膏啶た啶炧啶涏啷嵿い啷嵿く啶掂啷嵿啷囙う啶侧啷嵿し啶｀ 啷�
啶呧啷冟い啷嵿ぐ啶苦ぎ啷嬥そ啶た啶膏ぎ啷嵿が啶ㄠ啶о 啶掂た啶多啶粪ぃ啶距さ啶苦ざ啷囙し啷嵿く啶掂い啷� 啷� 啷┼ガ啷� 啷�v峁沝dhy膩d墨n膩峁� ca 艣膩stresmi帽chaktyavacchedalak峁峁嘺岣� |
ak峁泃rimo'bhisambandho vi艣e峁峁嚹乿i艣e峁avat || 365 ||365. In this 艢腻蝉迟谤补, the non-artificial relation of names like 痴峁沝诲丑颈 (with the named) consists in restricting their power to particular objects. This relation is like the relation of the qualifier and the qualified.
Commentary
[All words are capable of being the names of all things and all things are capable of being named by any word. But in the 艣腻蝉迟谤补, a particular name is restricted to a particular thing. In other words the relation of the name and the named is eternal. All that human beings can do is to restrict it in particular cases for the sake of convenience. The person who says blue jar does not create the relation between the blue and the jar. The expression 苍墨濒辞 驳丑补峁璦岣� only states a relation which was already there: tad yath膩 苍墨濒补尘 iti sarv膩艣rayavi艣e峁峁嘺艣aktir utpal膩divi峁y膩 parig峁沨yate. Utpal膩din膩pi sarvavi艣e峁峁嘺vi峁y膩 vi艣e峁a艣aktir n墨l膩di峁 niyamyate = when one says 苍墨濒补尘 utpalam, the power of blue to qualify any substance is presented as relating to the lotus and the power of the lotus to be qualified by any quality is here restricted to the blue, says the 痴峁泃迟颈.
Something is now said about the two kinds of names.