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 1.143
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 1.143:
तद्विभागाविभागाभ्यां क्रियमाणमवस्थितम् ।
स्वभावज्ञैश्च भावानां दृश्यन्ते शब्दशक्तयः ॥ १४३ ॥tadvibhāgāvibhāgābhyāṃ kriyamāṇamavasthitam |
svabhāvajñaiśca bhāvānāṃ dṛśyante śabdaśaktayaḥ || 143 ||143. As the powers of words are seen by those who know the true nature of things, the Science of
Grammar is composed on the basis of analysis or without analysis.
Commentary
What is called analysis is the postulation of divisions like stem and suffix for teaching others. For example, the statement that the suffix tavyat etc. are added to the root. So it has been said—
“Whatever he can teach in a general manner, he does accordingly.”1
There is absence of analysis where a word is given as it is. For example, the words dādharti, darddharti, etc.2 and the words dāśvān, sāhvān.3 In some Grammars, there is a great deal of absence of analysis and they teach many words directly (pratyakṣapakṣeṇa). Others, on the other hand, resort to analysis and by adopting the indirect method of inference, teach whole groups of words. This Grammatical tradition is established in different ways, according to the times and keeping in view the mental capacities of people. There are cultured people and that they are so can be inferred only from their use of correct words. They, whose inner vision is unobstructed in regard to all things to be known, see, without error, the power of words, differing at different periods of time and consisting in their being the means of merit or demerit, according to the times.
Notes
1. M. Bhā on P. 1.1.46.
2. P. 7.4.65.
3. P. 6.1.2.