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.

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Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 2.66:

तस्माद् व्रीहित्वमधिकं व्रीहिशब्दः प्रकल्पयन् ।
द्रव्यत्वमविरुद्धत्वात् प्राप्त्यर्थः सन्न बाधते ॥ ६६ ॥

tasmād vrīhitvamadhikaṃ vrīhiśabdaḥ prakalpayan |
dravyatvamaviruddhatvāt prāptyarthaḥ sanna bādhate || 66 ||

66. Therefore, the word rice, bringing the additional idea of rice, has a positive meaning (prāptyarthaḥ) and does not set aside substance in general as there is no opposition between the two.

Commentary

[According to this view, vrīhibhir yajeta is a positive injunction and not a restriction. It specifies and does not exclude other things. From yajeta, substance in general is understood because without some substance, yāga cannot be performed. From vrīhibhiḥ, we further learn that the particular substance is rice. If rice is not available, another similar substance is not excluded.]

Other Vyakarana Concepts:

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Concepts being referred within the main category of Hinduism context and sources.

Particular substance, Positive injunction, Specific injunction.

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