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.

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 2.310:

गन्तव्यं दृश्यतां सूर्य इति कालस्य लक्षणे ।
ज्ञायतां काल इत्येतत्सोपायमभिधीयते ॥ ३१० ॥

gantavyaṃ dṛśyatāṃ sūrya iti kālasya lakṣaṇe |
jñāyatāṃ kāla ityetatsopāyamabhidhīyate || 310 ||

310. ‘One has to go, look at the sun’ though this sentence says something about the sun, it really indicates time, because it says, with a hint at the means (upāya) that time should be ascertained.

Commentary

[The main meaning of the sentence relates to the sun but that is only a means to an end which is the ascertainment of time. ]

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