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 3.1.76
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 3.1.76:
तत्र द्रव्यगुणाभावे प्रत्येकं स्याद्विकल्पनम् ।
श्रुतिप्राप्तो हि संबन्धो बलवान्वाक्यलक्षणात् ॥ ७६ ॥tatra dravyaguṇābhāve pratyekaṃ syādvikalpanam |
śrutiprāpto hi saṃbandho balavānvākyalakṣaṇāt || 76 ||76. In this view, when the (prescribed) substance or quality is not available, it would be possible to have a substitute for either. The relation expressed directly by a verbal element is stronger than the one conveyed by the sentence.
Commentary
The author now points out a difficulty.
[Read verse 75 above]
[According to this view, there would be a difficulty. When, either the substance or the quality prescribed is not available, there could be a substitue for either, because that which is conveyed by a directly expressive verbal element is stronger than what is conveyed by the sentence. Therefore, the injunction, ‘One should sacrifice a white goat’ could be carried out with a black goat or a white goat made of flour if the prescribed substance or quality is not available ]
If the universal is the meaning of words, everything would be alright.