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 2.34
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 2.34:
संप्रत्ययप्रमाणत्वात् पदार्थास्तित्वकल्पने ।
पदार्थाभ्युच्चये त्यागादानर्थक्यं प्रसज्यते ॥ ३४ ॥saṃpratyayapramāṇatvāt padārthāstitvakalpane |
padārthābhyuccaye tyāgādānarthakyaṃ prasajyate || 34 ||34. If the mere understanding of the wordmeaning is taken as proof of the reality of the word and its meaning, as it is abandoned when it is mixed up with the meaning (of the following words) it would become useless.
Commentary
The view that the individual word has a reality is again criticised.
[Read verse 34 above]
[If the mere fact that the individual word and its meaning are cognised, are taken as proof that they have reality, there would be a difficulty. Each subsequent word of a sentence conveys its meaning as mixed up with that of the preceding word or words and so the meanings conveyed by the preceding word or words are abandoned as such. Thus the utterance of the preceding words becomes useless. Therefore, when the sentence-meaning is ultimately understood, it would not be due to the useless preceding words. The understanding of the individual word and its meaning were only temporary and, therefore, unreal phases.]
It is now stated that, as the individual word is something indefinite, its reality should not be accepted.