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 2.411
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 2.411:
पूर्वैरर्थैरनुगतो यथार्थात्मा परः परः ।
संसर्ग एव प्रकान्तस्तथाऽन्येष्वर्थवस्तुषु ॥ ४११ ॥pūrvairarthairanugato yathārthātmā paraḥ paraḥ |
saṃsarga eva prakāntastathā'nyeṣvarthavastuṣu || 411 ||411. Just as (according to abhihitānvaya) the meaning of each succeeding word particularised by the meaning of the preceding word is the sentencemeaning, in the same way, the connected meaning, present in the very beginning, made clear when the meanings of the subsequent words are understood, is the sentence-meaning.
Commentary
The nature of the sentence-meaning according to anvitā bhidhānavāda in now stated.
[Read verse 411 above]
[It is a connected meaning from the very beginning. Each succeeding word-meaning makes this connection clear. It is in the nature of an action associated with its accessories. The very first word of the sentence conveys this connected meaning but not sufficiently clearly. The grammarians’ view is that it is in the nature of intuition, without inner sequence and indivisible.
The Vṛtti makes the same idea clear as follows—Tathā saṃsargasya prakrāntatvāt prathama eva śabdaḥ ṣaṣṭyartham upādāya pravṛttaḥ, sa tu nityo viśiṣṭo nitya eva padāntarasannidhānāt pratipattṛṣu vyaktiṃ labhate.]