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 2.123
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 2.123:
घटादीनां न चाकारान् प्रत्ययति वाचकः ।
वस्तुमात्रनिवेशित्वात् तद्गतिर्नान्तरीयकी ॥ १२३ ॥ghaṭādīnāṃ na cākārān pratyayati vācakaḥ |
vastumātraniveśitvāt tadgatirnāntarīyakī || 123 ||123. An expressive word (like ghaṭa = a jar) does not denote the shapes and forms of a jar as it rests only on the general idea (that is common to all the jars). One, however, inevitably understands them.
Commentary
[When we hear the word ghaṭa, we understand only what is common to all jars and not all the possible forms and shapes of a jar.]
An illustration of this inevitability is now given.