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...
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Verse 1.104
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 1.104:
दूरात् प्रभेव दीपस्य ध्वनिमात्रं तु लक्ष्यते ।
घण्टादीनां च शब्देषु व्यक्तो भेदः स दृश्यते ॥ १०४ ॥dūrāt prabheva dīpasya dhvanimātraṃ tu lakṣyate |
ghaṇṭādīnāṃ ca śabdeṣu vyakto bhedaḥ sa dṛśyate || 104 ||104. From a distance only the sound is perceived like the light from a lamp. The difference is clearly visible in the sounds which are produced by bells, etc.
Commentary
Hero some thinkers consider that the sphoṭa manifested by the sound which comes into being at the same time and spreads far in all directions like the light of a lamp is associated with the sound from the very moment of its manifesta- tion just as a substance is endowed with its smell from the very moment it is produced. Just as, in a lamp, there is the burning substance which is the material cause of its closely packed parts (ghanasanniviṣṭāvayavaṃ pratyupādānam) and its light is based on it and follows its transformations, in the same way, the sphoṭa and the sound, very distinct when a bell is struck, constitute the characteristic of the manifestation of the phonemes. The difference between primary and secondary sounds has been explained in the two preceding verses.1
Notes
1. This verse puts forward another view of those who held the sphoṭa to be transitory. It is an answer to a possible objection that the sound, apart from the sphoṭa, does not exist at all. It is here pointed out that it does exist separately. We can see the difference when we hear from a distance the sounds which a crowd makes but cannot distinguish the words (the sphoṭas). Or, it is like seeing the light of a lamp without seeing the lamp itself. The sound produced by the first impact of a bell is the sphoṭa. In this verse, it is stated that the sound (dhvani) is also produced at the same time whereas in the previous verse it was stated that the sound produced by the impact is the sphoṭa and the subsequent sounds produced by the first one are the dhvanis. hr both the views, the sphoṭa is transitory.
In the text of the Vṛtti, ghaṭasanniviṣṭāvayavam is a mistake for ghanasanniviṣṭāvayavam.