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 2.48
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 2.48:
गुणभावेन साकाङ्क्षं तत्र नाम प्रवर्तते ।
साध्यत्वेन निमित्तानि क्रियापदमपेक्षते ॥ ४८ ॥guṇabhāvena sākāṅkṣaṃ tatra nāma pravartate |
sādhyatvena nimittāni kriyāpadamapekṣate || 48 ||48. In it, (that is, the sentence), the noun, being secondary (to action) requires the verb. The verb, being expressive of something to be accomplished, requires (the words expressive of) the means.
Commentary
If the mutual requirement of the meanings of the words of a sentence is equal, how to decide which is primary and which is secondary.
[Read verse 48 above]
The meanings of the individual words of a sentence require one another. Some looked upon this mutual requirement as a property of the meanings while others looked upon it as property of the listener. The Vṛtti refers to this difference of view. It says that the listener understands mutual requirement (vyapekṣā) according to what the words convey, whether it actually exists or not in the meanings: artheṣu satīm asatīṃ vā śabdavṛttyanukāreṇa puruṣo vyapekṣāṃ samīhate.]
The view that the sentence is nothing more than the sequence of the words is now explained.