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 1.59
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 1.59:
वृद्धयादयो यथा शब्दाः स्वरूपोपनिबन्धनाः ।
आदैच्प्रत्यायितैः शब्दैः संबन्धं यान्ति संज्ञिभिः ॥ ५९ ॥vṛddhayādayo yathā śabdāḥ svarūpopanibandhanāḥ |
ādaicpratyāyitaiḥ śabdaiḥ saṃbandhaṃ yānti saṃjñibhiḥ || 59 ||59. Just as words like Vṛddhi, having conveyed their own forms enter into relation with their named, the phonemes conveyed by the contractions āt, aic,
Commentary
[In rules like]—“Yaṇ comes in place of ik when a vowel follows”1 where the names are different (from the named) it is not the verbal element ik which is the original nor the verbal element Yaṇ the substitute. It is between the named having a different form conveyed by these verbal elements that the relations of original and substitute is taught in the Science of Grammar.2 Even where the named have the same form as the names, it is clear that such a relationship is understood. Just as words like Vṛddhi, standing for their own form, meaningful with their meanings, wanting to convey other sounds with their form, enter into relation with ā etc., varied by accent, nasalisation etc., conveyed by āt, aic etc., in the same way (the name conveys the named) even when the difference between the two is not easily perceived.
Notes
1. P. 6.1.77.
2. Rūpāntarayuktānāṃ saṃjñānām. If ik and yaṇ are names (saṃjñā) the sounds conveyed by them would be the named, saṃjñin. Therefore, one would expect in the text saṃjñinām and not saṃjñānām.