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 2.44-45
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 2.44-45:
सर्वभेदानुगुण्यं तु सामान्यमपरे विदुः ।
तदर्थान्तरसंसर्गाद् भजते भेदरूपताम् ॥ ४४ ॥
भेदानाकाङ्क्षतस्तस्य या परिप्लवमानता ।
अवच्छिनत्ति संबन्धस्तां विशेषे निवेशयन् ॥ ४५ ॥sarvabhedānuguṇyaṃ tu sāmānyamapare viduḥ |
tadarthāntarasaṃsargād bhajate bhedarūpatām || 44 ||
bhedānākāṅkṣatastasya yā pariplavamānatā |
avacchinatti saṃbandhastāṃ viśeṣe niveśayan || 45 ||44-45. Others declare the meaning of the word to be so general as is adaptable to all the particulars. When connected with the meaning of the other words, it assumes the form of the particular.
Commentary
The saṃghāta view is now explained from the anvitābhidhāna point of view:
[Read verse 44-45 above]
Contact (with the meaning of the other words) removes the vagueness which arises when it requires particularisation by fixing it to one particular.
[It was stated in verses 41 and 42 that a word in a sentence gives the same meaning as in isolation. When the meanings of the words are connected together, a qualified meaning emerges and that is the meaning of the sentence as a whole. In verse 43, it was stated that the meaning of the whole is contained in a single word according to some and in the totality of words also according to others. In 44 and 45, it is stated that the individual word conveys a general meaning which is potentially capable of being connected with the meanings of other words and when it is actually connected with the other words, it conveys a meaning actually connected with particular meanings of other words. The general meaning and the parti cular meaning are those of the individual word and not of the sentence and is not conveyed by ākāṅkṣā, yogyatā and sannidhi.]