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 2.407
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 2.407:
啶ㄠぞ啶ㄠぞ啶む啶掂じ啷嵿く啷堗さ 啶膏啶溹啶炧ぞ啶ㄠぎ啶班啶ムお啷嵿ぐ啶曕ぐ啶｀ぞ啶︵た啶た啶� 啷�
啶� 啶溹ぞ啶む啶掂ぐ啷嵿ぅ啶距え啷嵿い啶班 啶掂啶む啶むた啶班え啷嵿く啶距ぐ啷嵿ぅ啶距え啶距 啶曕ぅ啶炧啶氞え 啷� 啷ウ啷� 啷�n膩n膩tvasyaiva sa峁僯帽膩namarthaprakara峁嚹乨ibhi岣� |
na j膩tvarth膩ntare v峁泃tirany膩rth膩n膩峁� katha帽cana || 407 ||407. From the fact that the meaning is determined with the help of the context (artha and 辫谤补办补谤补峁嘺), one understands that it is a different word. A word which has a certain meaning cannot express another.
Commentary
[...] As the word may look another because of the sameness of the sequence of the phonemes the help of context may be needed to get at the meaning invariably linked with it.
[Read verse 407 above]
[What is pointed out here is that the very fact that one has to have recourse to the context to determine the meaning shows that it is a different word: Tat tu tat sv膩bh膩vikam asa峁僰墨r峁嘺m arth膩yatta峁� 苍颈迟测补峁� 艣abd膩n膩峁� sven膩rthena nityasambandh膩n n膩n膩tva峁� tatpratipatt膩ra峁� pratisandehaniv峁泃tyartha峁� prakar峁嚹乨ibhi岣� pravibhajyate. The relation between the word and the meaning being eternal and not man-made, a meaning once conveyed by its word, cannot be abandoned nor can a meaning not conveyed by it be ascribed to it: na tu kad膩cid up膩ttasya sva艣abdena punasty膩go'sti, anup膩ttasya vop膩d膩nam. Apauru峁yo hyautpattika岣� 艣abd膩rthayo岣� 蝉补尘产补苍诲丑补岣�.]
If context can determine the meaning of a word and if such a word is different from another having the same sequence of phonemes, the established doctrine of the indivisibility of the sentence and the sentence-meaning seems to be affected. But that doctrine stands.