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 2.256
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 2.256:
तथा स्वरूपं शब्दानां सर्वर्थेष्वनुषज्यते ।
अर्थमात्रं विपर्यस्तं स्वरूपे तु स्थितिः स्थिरा ॥ २५६ ॥tathā svarūpaṃ śabdānāṃ sarvartheṣvanuṣajyate |
arthamātraṃ viparyastaṃ svarūpe tu sthitiḥ sthirā || 256 ||256. The same form of a word is superimposed on all its meanings. It is the object that changes. The word is unchangeably fixed to its form.
Commentary
[The point mentioned here is that a word never deserts its meaning consisting of its external form, namely, a particular pattern of phonemes.
The Vṛtti attributes to some Ācāryas the view that the form of a word, specifically its own and internal to it, invariably associated with it and normally never shared with other words, is its first meaning. It is superimposed on the object which it denotes. The two are identified: Anye tvācāryā manyante svarūpe śabdo nityaṃ vartate. Sa eva tasyāntaraṅgo savyabhicārī śabdāntareṇā sādhāraṇo'rthaḥ. Tatra cānupadeśapratipattiḥ sarveṣām. rūpaṃ tu śabdānām artheṣvadhyāropyate.]
The anekaśabdadarśana is now explained.