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 1.35
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 1.35:
परेषामसमाख्येयमभ्यासादेव जायते ।
मणिरूप्यादिविज्ञानं तद्विदां नानुमानिकम् ॥ ३५ ॥pareṣāmasamākhyeyamabhyāsādeva jāyate |
maṇirūpyādivijñānaṃ tadvidāṃ nānumānikam || 35 ||35. The experts’ knowledge of the genuineness of precious stones and coins, uncommunicable to others, is born of practice and not of reasoning.
Commentary
Expert examiners of coins, goldsmiths etc., even after having found out the subtle reasons for deciding the genuineness of coins like a kārṣāpaṇa, are not able to communicate them to others, because these reasons have no words to express them. Even experts, full of concentration, do not understand, without long practice, the distinction between ṣaḍja, ṛṣabha, gāndhāra, dhaivata etc., even though, it comes within the range of perception.1
Notes
1. The purpose of this verse seems to be to point out that, in order to understand certain things, it is necessary, not only to make use of perception, inference and tradition, but a fourth thing called, abhyāsa, practice. The knowledge which the expert acquires about the genuineness of precious stones is something which he cannot communicate to others nor has it been communicated to him by others. That is why it is said to be different from tradition which can be communicated to others.