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 2.365
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 2.365:
वृद्ध्यादीनां च शास्त्रेस्मिञ्छक्त्यवच्छेदलक्षणः ।
अकृत्रिमोऽभिसम्बन्धो विशेषणाविशेष्यवत् ॥ ३६५ ॥vṛddhyādīnāṃ ca śāstresmiñchaktyavacchedalakṣaṇaḥ |
akṛtrimo'bhisambandho viśeṣaṇāviśeṣyavat || 365 ||365. In this Śāstra, the non-artificial relation of names like Vṛddhi (with the named) consists in restricting their power to particular objects. This relation is like the relation of the qualifier and the qualified.
Commentary
[All words are capable of being the names of all things and all things are capable of being named by any word. But in the śāstra, a particular name is restricted to a particular thing. In other words the relation of the name and the named is eternal. All that human beings can do is to restrict it in particular cases for the sake of convenience. The person who says blue jar does not create the relation between the blue and the jar. The expression nīlo ghaṭaḥ only states a relation which was already there: tad yathā nīlam iti sarvāśrayaviśeṣaṇaśaktir utpalādiviṣayā parigṛhyate. Utpalādināpi sarvaviśeṣaṇaviṣayā viśeṣyaśaktir nīlādiṣu niyamyate = when one says nīlam utpalam, the power of blue to qualify any substance is presented as relating to the lotus and the power of the lotus to be qualified by any quality is here restricted to the blue, says the Vṛtti.
Something is now said about the two kinds of names.