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...
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Verse 2.170
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 2.170:
अन्वाख्यानानि भिद्यन्ते शब्दव्युत्पत्तिकर्मसु ।
बहूनां सम्भवेऽर्थानां निमित्तं किञ्चिदिष्यते ॥ १७० ॥anvākhyānāni bhidyante śabdavyutpattikarmasu |
bahūnāṃ sambhave'rthānāṃ nimittaṃ kiñcidiṣyate || 170 ||170. In the derivations of words, one resorts to many ways of explaining them. Where many meanings are possible, a particular one is taken as the basis of derivation.
Commentary
[The Vṛtti argues as follows—When experts put forward derivations of words, either by giving them readymade (nipātana) or by giving rules of word-formation, one sees various kinds of explanations of correct words on the basis of some characteristic which is either fundamental (savyāpāra) or secondary, the worldly meaning of the word being invariable. Among the many powers of an object, any one may be resorted to as the basic characteristic and used as help in derivation: anekaśaktiyukte'rthe yā kācinnimitabhāvenāśrīyamāṇā śaktiḥ sādhutvānvākhyāne'ṅgatvaṃ pratipadyate. For example, the derivation of the word taṇḍula is given in the Uṇādisūtra—Vṛñluṭitanitādibhya ulac taṇḍaśca (U.S. 5.8). It is possible to derive the word taṇḍula by adding the suffix ulac to other roots and substituting taṇḍa for those roots.].