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 2.419-420
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 2.419-420:
पृथङ्निविष्टतत्त्वानां पृथगर्थानुपातिनाम् ।
इन्द्रियाणां यथा कार्यमृते देहान्न कल्पते ॥ ४१९ ॥
तथा पदानां सर्वेषां पृथगर्थनिवेशिनाम् ।
वाक्येभ्यः प्रविभक्तानामर्थवत्ता न विद्यते ॥ ४२० ॥pṛthaṅniviṣṭatattvānāṃ pṛthagarthānupātinām |
indriyāṇāṃ yathā kāryamṛte dehānna kalpate || 419 ||
tathā padānāṃ sarveṣāṃ pṛthagarthaniveśinām |
vākyebhyaḥ pravibhaktānāmarthavattā na vidyate || 420 ||419. Just as the senses which have each their own essential nature and their own field of operation, cannot perform their function without the body.
420. In the same way, the individual words though expressive of their own meaning, have no meaning at all if they are isolated from the sentence.
Commentary
[Puṇyarāja says that the understanding of the meaning of the individual word is an error and as such it is either viparītakhyāti or asatkhyāti, two well-known interpretations of error in Indian philosophical circles. In any case, if they have any meaning at all, it is only as long as they are within the sentence and not in isolation. This is what the Vṛtti also emphasises in its concluding sentence:—Tathaiva pṛthagarthānāmapi padānāṃ vākyopanibandhanatām antareṇārtha pratyāyanaśaktir na vidyate.]