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 3.14.558
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 3.14.558:
अराज्ञि येषां धर्माणां दृष्टोऽत्यन्तमसम्भवः ।
ते राजनि नियम्यन्ते त्यज्यन्ते व्यभिचारिणा ॥ ५५८ ॥arājñi yeṣāṃ dharmāṇāṃ dṛṣṭo'tyantamasambhavaḥ |
te rājani niyamyante tyajyante vyabhicāriṇā || 558 ||558. Those qualities which are absolutely impossible in one who is not a king, they arc restricted to a king. Those which deviate are abandoned.
Commentary
The exact scope of P. 5.1.117 is now stated.
[Read verse 558 above]
[When it is intended to emphasise those qualities which arc found in a king only, then the suffix vati is used for the purpose of restriction. Restriction usually implies exclusion of others. There is a two-way restriction: (1) the conduct befits a king only. (2) only the conduct befits a king. The Bhāṣya further means that the agent of the act of deserving is an action, a mode of behaviour, a conduct. When such an agent is meant to be different from other agents then the suffix vati is added by this rule. That action or conduct befits the meaning of the word ending in the second case-affix. In rājavad rūpam = ‘beauty like that of a king’ rājavad dhairyam = ‘courage like that of a king,’ the, suffix vati comes by the previous rule. It cannot come by his rule because this teaches vati when the agent of deserv-ing is an action. So the conclusion is this: Where the difference is meant, the suffix comes by the previous rule. Where no difference is meant, no comparison is involved and the effect aimed at is restriction, the suffix comes by P. 5.1.117.]