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 3.1.97
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 3.1.97:
भेदरूपैरनुस्यूतं यदैकमिव मन्यते ।
समूहावग्रहा बुद्धिर्बहुभ्यो जायते तदा ॥ ९७ ॥bhedarūpairanusyūtaṃ yadaikamiva manyate |
samūhāvagrahā buddhirbahubhyo jāyate tadā || 97 ||97. When, that which has diversity is looked upon as one then from the many is born the conception of a ‘collection’.
Commentary
As the sūtra teaching retention of one only of many identical forms has been declared to be impossible if the universal is the meaning of words, the author now brings it within the sphere of the idea of collection.
[Read verse 97 above]
[When both diversity and unity figure in the cognition, then the object is what is called a collection. Unity is superimposed on what is diversity. The cognition of collection arises from the many, to which unity is subordinate. In the cognition of the universal, diversity does not figure. Unity or identity is the predominant factor.]
The author now defines the scope of resemblance.