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 2.155
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 2.155:
संस्थानवर्णावैवर्विशिष्टे यः प्रयुज्यते ।
शब्दो न तस्यावयवे प्रवृत्तिरुपलभ्यते ॥ १५५ ॥saṃsthānavarṇāvaivarviśiṣṭe yaḥ prayujyate |
śabdo na tasyāvayave pravṛttirupalabhyate || 155 ||155. A word which is applied to an object as qualified by a shape, colour and parts, cannot be considered to denote only a portion thereof.
Commentary
Something is now said about words whose primary meaning is form, shape or colour.
[Read verse 155 above]
[Words like sthūla, hrasva, karbura, śabala do express particular shapes and colours directly. They are not merely implied. Some shape or colour is the very basis of their application. They do not denote a part of these shapes or colours. Hundred may include fifty as its part but the word śatam does not denote fifty.
The Vṛtti says the same thing but gives its own illustrations. Words like parimaṇḍala, dīrgha, caturaśra denote things having these shapes and not parts of these shapes. Similarly, words like muṣṭi, granthi, sandhi, kuṇḍala denote things having that shape and not parts of that shape. Words expressive of colour such as citra, kalmāṣa, sāraṅga do not denote parts of these colours. Words like śatam, sahasram, prastha, droṇa, māṣa, saṃvatsara are expressive of wholes and do not denote their parts.]
Apart from such words, ordinarily a word denotes the universal.