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 2.298-299
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 2.298-299:
घटादिषु यथा दीपो येनार्थेन प्रयुज्यते ।
ततोऽन्यस्यापि साचिव्यात् स करोति प्रकाशनम् ॥ २९८ ॥
संसर्गिषु तथाऽर्थेषु शब्दो येन प्रयुज्यते ।
तस्मात् प्रयोजकादन्यानपि प्रत्याययत्यसौ ॥ २९९ ॥ghaṭādiṣu yathā dīpo yenārthena prayujyate |
tato'nyasyāpi sācivyāt sa karoti prakāśanam || 298 ||
saṃsargiṣu tathā'rtheṣu śabdo yena prayujyate |
tasmāt prayojakādanyānapi pratyāyayatyasau || 299 ||298. Just as a lamp reveals, in an object like a jar, through association (or proximity) other things than that for the illumination of which it was employed, (299) in the same way, a word conveys, from among the things which are connected together, those that are different from the one to convey which it was used.
Commentary
[When a lamp is used to illuminate an object, it illuminates, not only that object but whatever else is invariably associated with it. If a lamp is lighted to see a jar, one sees not only the jar but also the properties which are inherent in the jar. This is inevitable. The jar itself is the main thing, its properties are the invariably associated things. In the same way, when a word is used to convey a particular property from among the many which are connected with one another, it conveys not only that property but also others which are always associated with it. Puṇyarāja takes the word bhāva as an example. On the basis of its derivation, it can convey several connected notions such as the fact of being something finished (siddhatva), the masculine gender, singular number and so on. If it is used for conveying the idea of being something finished, it will not stop there. It will also convey the masculine gender, singular number etc.
The illustration of the lamp and of the word bhāva go back to the Vṛtti. The former, of course, is mentioned in the verse 298 itself. The Vṛtti contains several references to the Mahābhāṣya on the sūtra: Bhāve (P. 3.3.18.)
The lamp and the word bhāva were jñāpaka examples. The author now takes a kāraka example.