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 2.285
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 2.285:
अत्यन्तविपरीतोऽपि यदा योऽर्थोऽवधार्यते ।
यथासंप्रत्ययं शब्दस्तत्र मुख्यः प्रवर्तंते ॥ २८५ ॥atyantaviparīto'pi yadā yo'rtho'vadhāryate |
yathāsaṃpratyayaṃ śabdastatra mukhyaḥ pravartaṃte || 285 ||285. Whenever a meaning, however contradictory it may be, is understood from a word, then according to that understanding, that is its primary meaning.
Commentary
Some deny the distinction between primary and secondary meanings. They are answered as follows—
[Read verse 285 above]
[Whatever meaning figures in the mind when a word or sentence is heard is its meaning, however unusual or contradictory it may be. This is based on the Mīmāṃsaka principle, expressed in the following Mī. Sū:—śabdavattūpalabhyate tadāgame hi dṛśyate tasya jñānaṃ yatha'nyeṣām. (Mī. Sū IV 1.6.15)
The Vṛtti gives the example of the mirage. The mirage looks like water from a distance. So it is mistaken for water and the word water applied to it. This application should be looked upon as a primary one because it is based upon the well-established meaning for the application of the word water:—jalanirbhāsāyāṃ hi mṛgatrṣṇikāyāṃ buddhāvutpannāyāṃ mukhya eva jalaśabdaḥ prayoktavya Hi. Tulyaṃ hi pravṛttinimittaṃ sarvatra śabdasya prayojanam bhavitum arhati.]
It is now shown that even if the meaning is what figures in the mind, there can be a distinction between what is primary and what is secondary. To show this, the author says something about what is real and what is not.