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 2.434
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 2.434:
वस्तूपलक्षणं शब्दो नापकारस्य वाचकः ।
न स्वशक्तिः पदार्थानां संस्प्रष्टुं तेन शक्यते ॥ ४३४ ॥vastūpalakṣaṇaṃ śabdo nāpakārasya vācakaḥ |
na svaśaktiḥ padārthānāṃ saṃspraṣṭuṃ tena śakyate || 434 ||434. The word is only an adventitious mark of an object (upalakṣaṇa); it does not express the service which it renders, it is not capable of touching (that is, of expressing) the powers of the object.
Commentary
[The point here is that a word really does not touch the essence of an object. It stands far from it and does no more than somehow bring it to the mind, so that it can be talked about. There is no real relation between the two.
The Vṛtti, following, of course, the verse, also emphasises that the word can at the most denote the object, that is, bring it to the mind but it cannot express the powers of the object. It is the powers which distinguish an object from others and enable it to render service, but the word is not capable of denoting all that Sa hi vastumātrasaṃsparśitvād bhedakānyupakārīṇi śaktirūpāṇi na saṃspṛśati.]
Even the relation of expression and expressed (vācyavācakabhāva) between word and meaning cannot be maintained.