Verse 1.44

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 1.44:

द्वावुपादानशब्देषु शब्दौ शब्दविदो विदुः ।
एको निमित्तं शब्दानामपरोऽर्थे प्रयुज्यते ॥ ४४ ॥

dvāvupādānaśabdeṣu śabdau śabdavido viduḥ |
eko nimittaṃ śabdānāmaparo'rthe prayujyate || 44 ||

44. In the words which are expressive the learned discern two elements: one is the cause of the real word which, the other, is used to convey the meaning.

Commentary

That is called the expressive word which takes over the meaning, imposes it on its own form, makes it identical with itself, as it were. It has been said in the Saṅgraha.

“According to the view that it is the undivided word which conveys the meaning,¹ the expressive word has its own form (which is the basis of its usage and grammatical explanation). According to the view that the word can be divided into meaningful parts,² the basis of the formation of the word is the element delimited by meaning. Others are of the view that the word which conveys the meaning (does not express it but only) suggests it, because in that way, the use of the relation of the identity of the word and the meaning in the form ‘It is this’ would be possible.³”

Or the word upādāna may be taken to mean the whole which is to be accepted (for the operation of the rule). It is like this: where a word stands for its own form, its parts are not taken into consideration and no division is, therefore, cognised.⁴ What is meant by ‘one is the cause of the real word’ is: the cause of that, standing on which or resting on which or based on which the sounds convey the meaning. What is meant by ‘the other is used to convey the meaning’ is—By the activity of the articulatory organs, it attains modification, becomes audible, depends, as the illuminator, always on the illuminated⁵ and is used to convey the meaning. According to others, that in which there is no inner sequence is the cause, that which has acquired sequence conveys the meaning. They proclaim that even that conveys the meaning when it enters the mind of the listener with all sequence suppressed. Another maintains that what has sequence is the cause of what has none.

In the sequenceless word are merged both the expressive power (śrutiśakti) and the power of being expressed (arthaśakti). It has been said—

“From the differentiated, the undifferentiated word is born and it expresses the meaning. The word assumes the form of the meaning and enters into relation with it.”

Notes

1. Avyutpattipakṣa. When a word cannot be divided into meaningful parts, the whole of it is associated with a meaning which is not related to the meanings of its parts, because there are no parts.

2. Vyutpattipakṣa. Where a word can be divided into meaningful parts, the meaning of the whole is sought to be connected with the meaning of the parts.

3. Dyotaka. Those who hold that the word is suggestive (and not expressive = vācaka) seem to mean that the relation of expressive and expressed presupposes difference between word and meaning. But there is abheda between the two. Therefore, the word cannot be vācaka, it can only be dyoṭaka.

4. Sometimes, a word stands for its own form and not for a meaning different from the form. That is mostly the case in grammatical rules. P. 4.2.33 “agner ḍhak” says that the suffix ḍhak (= eya) is to be added to agni. Here agni naturally stands for its own form and not for what it means. Therefore, it cannot be divided into parts. The suffix can be added only to the word as a whole and not to any part of it. Agni is svarūpapadārthaka.

5. Pratyāyyaparatantra. ‘Tadākāropagraheṇopasthānāt’—Vr. The word as prakāśaka, naturally depends upon the meaning which is prakāśya or pratyāyya. It is supposed always to carry the reflection of the meaning.