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 2.214
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 2.214:
वर्णोन केनचिन्नयूनः सङ्घातो योऽभिधायकः ।
न चेच्छब्दान्तरमसावन्यूनस्तेन गम्यते ॥ २१४ ॥varṇona kenacinnayūnaḥ saṅghāto yo'bhidhāyakaḥ |
na cecchabdāntaramasāvanyūnastena gamyate || 214 ||214. If a collection of phonemes, with some missing phoneme but still expressive of the meaning (of the whole collection) is not considered to be a different word, then it is the complete word which is brought to the mind by it.
Commentary
[If iṣkartāram and niṣkartāram mean the same thing and if the former is not taken as entirely different from the latter, then it is the complete word which is first brought to the mind by the incomplete word and from the complete word so conveyed, the meaning is understood.
The above note is based on Puṇyarāja. The Vṛtti is not clear, but it also speaks about remembering the complete word through the incomplete word in connection with the Vedas:—Chāndaseṣvapi lopeṣu prasiddhivikalāni yāni śabdāntarāṇi tair anyūnā avaikalyayuktāḥ prasiddhāḥ samudāyāḥ smaryante. It also quotes words from the Taittirīya Saṃhitā I, 8.10.1. and IV. 1.10.2.]