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 2.116
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 2.116:
अविकल्पेऽपि वाक्यार्थे विकल्पा भावनाश्रयाः ।
अत्राधिकरणे वादाः पूर्वेषां बहुधा गताः ॥ ११६ ॥avikalpe'pi vākyārthe vikalpā bhāvanāśrayāḥ |
atrādhikaraṇe vādāḥ pūrveṣāṃ bahudhā gatāḥ || 116 ||116. Even though the meaning of a sentence is without differentiation, divisions are brought about by the difference in the background of their authors. On this subject, there have been many views among ancient thinkers.
Commentary
It is now stated how the indivisible sentence is divided by some.
[Read verse 116 above]
[What is pointed out here is that thinkers are influenced, by the systems of thought to which they belong, in their view about the nature of the meaning of a sentence. They try to make it conform to their other doctrines.]