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 2.59
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 2.59:
पदाम्नायश्च यद्यन्यः संहिताया निदर्शकः ।
नित्यस्तत्र कथं कार्यं पदं लक्षणदर्शनात् ॥ ५९ ॥padāmnāyaśca yadyanyaḥ saṃhitāyā nidarśakaḥ |
nityastatra kathaṃ kāryaṃ padaṃ lakṣaṇadarśanāt || 59 ||59. If the other tradition, namely, that of the separated words (padapāṭha) shows the way to the connected text and is eternal, how is the separated text to be constituted according to the rules?
Commentary
A statement of Patanjali is now explained.
The very fact that Patanjali says that the authors of the padapāṭha have to follow the rules in doing their work shows that, according to him, that text is man-made. His words are: na lakṣaṇena padakārā anuvartyāḥ; padakārair nāma lakṣaṇam anuvartyam=“are not to be framed according to the text made by the authors of the padapāṭha; it is the latter who have to follow the rules.” In other words, Patañjali is in favour of the akhaṇḍapakṣa. See M.Bhā. II. p. 85,1. 4.5.
[Read verse 59 above]
[The Vṛtti points out that the word used in the world is eternal. It is for the rules to conform to the eternal word and not for the latter to conform to the rules: ataḥ śāstreṇa nityasya lakṣyasyānuvidhānaṃ kartavya, na tu nityena lakṣyeṇa śāstram anuvidheyam.]