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 3.7.105
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 3.7.105:
啶夃い啷嵿お啶む啶む啶� 啶啶班ぞ啶椸じ啶︵啶ぞ啶掂 啶啶︵啶оく啶掂じ啷嵿ぅ啶距え啶苦が啶ㄠ啶оえ啶� 啷�
啶呧さ啶苦ざ啶苦し啷嵿啶� 啶膏い啶距そ啶ㄠ啶啶� 啶曕ぐ啷嵿い啶� 啶さ啶むた 啶溹え啷嵿ぎ啶ㄠ 啷� 啷оウ啷� 啷�utpatte岣� pr膩gasadbh膩vo buddhayavasth膩nibandhana岣� |
avi艣i峁ａ弓a岣� sat膩'nyena kart膩 bhavati janmana岣� || 105 ||105. Before it is produced, there is no existence. On the basis of the special intention of the speaker, it becomes, without difference from any other existing thing, the agent of the act of being born.
Commentary
It is now shown that when the fact of being the agent is a matter of presentation by words, other things also become clear.
[Read verse 105 above]
[Once it is grasped that what is called agent is a matter of presentation by words, other things can also be understood. In the sentence a峁卥uro 箩腻测补迟别 = 鈥榯he sprout is born鈥�, the sprout which is born either exists or does not exist. If it already exists, why should it be born? If it does not exist how can it be the agent of the act of being born? Such doubts arise if the idea of agent is not a matter of presentation by words, but something having outside reality. An answer to such doubts was given on the basis of 耻辫补肠腻谤补蝉补迟迟腻 in the 厂补尘产补苍诲丑补蝉补尘耻诲诲别艣补. But to say that things denoted by words have 耻辫补肠腻谤补蝉补迟迟腻 does not mean that they are figurative meanings of words. That is a different conception altogether. In the expression under discussion, due to the speaker鈥檚 intention, the idea of sprout comes to the mind. By coming to the mind, it acquires a kind of 蝉补迟迟腻 (being). The sprout is now sat. So the word 补峁卥耻谤补 is used. When the word 箩腻测补迟别 is added, what happens is that the sentence so formed says: the sprout which has already acquired 蝉补迟迟腻 and so the capacity of being the agent of the act of being born, is actually born, that is, it is actually born in the external sense also. Thus, there is a difference between the being and the fact of being the agent of the sprout; but this is a difference which exists only in the realm of words (艣腻产诲墨) and not in reality. Thus there is no 耻辫补肠腻谤补 here, even though there is upacara蝉补迟迟腻.]