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 2.321-323
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 2.321-323:
व्याघ्रादिव्यपदेशेन यथा बालो निवर्त्यते ।
असत्योऽपि तथा कश्चित् प्रत्यवायो विधीयते ॥ ३२१ ॥
न संविधानं कृत्वापि प्रत्यवाये तथाविधे ।
शास्त्रेण प्रतिषिद्धेऽर्थे विद्वान् कश्चित् प्रवर्तते ॥ ३२२ ॥
सर्पेषु संविधायापि सिद्धैर्मन्त्रौषधादिभिः ।
नान्यथा प्रतिपत्तव्यं न दतो गमयेदिति ॥ ३२३ ॥vyāghrādivyapadeśena yathā bālo nivartyate |
asatyo'pi tathā kaścit pratyavāyo vidhīyate || 321 ||
na saṃvidhānaṃ kṛtvāpi pratyavāye tathāvidhe |
śāstreṇa pratiṣiddhe'rthe vidvān kaścit pravartate || 322 ||
sarpeṣu saṃvidhāyāpi siddhairmantrauṣadhādibhiḥ |
nānyathā pratipattavyaṃ na dato gamayediti || 323 ||321. Just as a crying child is put off when he is threatened that a tiger would eat him, in the same way, some bad consequence though unreal, is held up (before one who does some prohibited act).
322. Therefore, a learned man does not undertake an action prohibited by the śāstra after having arranged for averting its bad consequence.
323. One should not violate the injunction that ‘one should not touch it (the sacrificial cake) with the teeth while eating it, for, if one does so, serpents would destroy him’ after having first provided some antidote to serpent poison in the form of some mantra or medicine.
Commentary
[The eating of the sacrificial cake by letting the teeth pierce it is prohibited as follows—na dato gamayet, yad data gamayet, sarpā enaṃ ghātukā bhavanti.