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 1.81
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 1.81:
स्फोटरूपाविभागेन ध्वनेर्ग्रहणमिष्यते ।
कैश्चिद्ध्वनिरसंवेद्यः स्वतन्त्रोऽन्यैः प्रकल्पितः ॥ ८१ ॥sphoṭarūpāvibhāgena dhvanergrahaṇamiṣyate |
kaiściddhvanirasaṃvedyaḥ svatantro'nyaiḥ prakalpitaḥ || 81 ||81. According to some, the sound is cognised as identical with the word (sphoṭa); others think that the sound is not perceived at all, which others still think that it is perceived as a separate entity.
Commentary
Those who believe that the word is manifested hold three different views on the subject. The sound which is closely bound up with the word is perceived as one with it, as the colour of the associated object is perceived as one with the crystal. According to others, just as the senses, and their qualities, being themselves unperceived,1 become the cause of the cognition of the object, in the same way, the sound, its own form remaining unperceived, becomes the cause of the cognition of the word. Others still say: from a distance, even if the form of the word is not perceived, the bare sound is perceived. Others explain that it (the perception of the sound) is similar to that of the word. It is like this: it is seen that in deserts, small things appear to be big. Moon and other objects are perceived as small, trees etc. are vaguely perceived but not that they have bark and holes on them or that they belong to particular species like Dhava or Khadira.
Notes
1. The Sānkhyas consider the senses to be products of Ahaṅkāra, but the illustration here is based on the view that the senses are products of the elements. Even if they are products of the combined elements (pañcīkṛta), one of the elements is predominant in the combination. The predominant element with its special quality, is itself not perceived when it becomes the cause of the perception of the same quality in the external products. The sense of smell has smell as its quality but that is not perceived when it helps us to perceive the smell of other objects.