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 3.13.12
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 3.13.12:
啶� 啶氞ぞ啶侧ぎ啶ㄠ啶ぞ啶ㄠぞ啶� 啶多が啷嵿う啷嬥そ啶︵ぐ啷嵿ざ啶ㄠお啷傕ぐ啷嵿さ啶曕 啷�
啶膏た啶︵啶о 啶灌た 啶︵ぐ啷嵿ざ啶ㄠ 啶曕た啶� 啶膏啶ぞ啶︵え啷佮ぎ啶距え啶啶班く啷嬥啶ㄠぎ啷� 啷� 啷оエ 啷�na c膩lamanum膩n膩ya 艣abdo'dar艣anap奴rvaka岣� |
siddhe hi dar艣ane ki峁� sy膩danum膩naprayojanam || 12 ||12. The feminine gender of a word, not preceded by the observation of sex signs in the object, cannot lead to the inference of the sex. If it has already been observed, inference (from the word) would serve no purpose.
Commentary
[It would not do to say that we infer the female sex of 办丑补峁璿腻 by seeing its effect namely, the feminine gender of the word. The gender of the word can only be an indication of what has already been established by other evidence. The gender of the word cannot be the cause of the sex of an object, because gender itself is the effect of sex. To infer the sex of an object not otherwise proved, from the gender of its word would result in the defect called 补苍测辞苍测腻艣谤补测补 = 鈥榤utual dependence鈥�.
All this only shows that sex does not correspond to gender.
Grammarians have, therefore, to understand gender differently, as the author of the 惭补丑腻产丑腻峁补 has done, by saying =
Sa峁僺ty膩naprasavau li峁単am膩stheyau (M. Bh膩. II. p. 197, 1. 27.)
The feminine gender is 蝉补峁僺迟测腻苍补 which Hel膩r膩ja explains as follows:鈥�
蝉补峁僺迟测腻苍补峁� sa峁僪anana峁� pratilayastirobh膩vo'pacayo r奴p膩d墨n膩峁� sattv膩dimay膩n膩峁� gu峁嚹乶膩峁� 蝉迟谤墨.
Similarly, the masculine gender is:
辫谤补蝉补惫补岣� prav峁泃tir 膩virbh膩vo gu峁嚹乶膩峁� 艣膩stre pum膩n.
Lastly, the neuter gender is:
ubhayadharmas膩m膩nyar奴p膩 tu sthitir napu峁僺akam arth膩d uktam bhavati. (Hel膩r膩ja on Lin. 12.)
The definitions are based on the following notions. All things are combinations of the five qualities 艣补产诲补, rasa, 谤奴辫补, 蝉辫补谤艣补 and gandha which again are made up of sattva, rajas and tamas, Everything has, therefore, the properties of these qualities and their properties are: 辫谤补办腻艣补岣�, 辫谤补蝉补惫补岣�, 腻惫颈谤产丑腻惫补岣� for sattva, 辫谤补惫峁泃迟颈岣�, 办谤颈测腻 for rajas and 惫补谤补峁嘺尘, 迟颈谤辞产丑腻惫补, 蝉迟丑颈迟颈岣� for tamas. These three properties arc the three genders. All the time qualities 谤奴辫补 etc. are constantly changing. But these changes are not perceptible to all. We see only their final result. Patanjali himself has declared that nothing remains as it is even for a moment. Everything is constantly changing like boiling water. Everything is constantly appearing and disappearing (腻惫颈谤产丑腻惫补 and 迟颈谤辞产丑腻惫补) and these are the main characteristics of the two main genders.]