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...
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Verse 2.439-440
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 2.439-440:
अन्वाख्यानाय यो भेदः प्रतिपत्तिनिबन्धनम् ।
साकाङ्क्षावयवं भेदे तेनान्यदुपवर्ण्यते ॥ ४३९ ॥
अनेकशक्तेरेकस्य प्रविभागोऽनुगम्यते ।
एकार्थत्वं हि वाक्यस्य मात्रयाऽपि प्रतीयते ॥ ४४० ॥anvākhyānāya yo bhedaḥ pratipattinibandhanam |
sākāṅkṣāvayavaṃ bhede tenānyadupavarṇyate || 439 ||
anekaśakterekasya pravibhāgo'nugamyate |
ekārthatvaṃ hi vākyasya mātrayā'pi pratīyate || 440 ||439. The division of it which is made in order to explain it is the means of knowing it. In that division, the parts are incomplete and require one another. Through this means, something different from it is defined.
440. Of the sentence which has many powers, a division is understood (on the basis of the differentiation of word-meanings). The unity of the sentence-meaning is understood even from slight indications.
Commentary
[For the understanding of unity from slight indications, Puṇyarāja gives the following illustration. There is the sūtra—ig yaṇaḥ saṃprasāraṇam (P. 1.1.45) = The ik which comes in place of yaṇ is called saṃprasāraṇa. The two words ig yaṇaḥ convey a connected meaning, namely, the relation of original and substitute (sthānyādeśabhāva). It is a sentence-meaning because it comes from two connected words. But this sentence meaning can be conveyed by the single word in the singular number, namely, saṃprasāraṇam. This is the slight indication (mātrayā).
What the Vṛtti says may be briefly, indicated as follows:—
Those who uphold the unity and the eternality of the word believe that the sentence conveys action, particularised by time, special accessories, substance, person, aspect etc. That One indivisible word is analysed for practical purposes into parts, but it stands for one indivisible meaning, involving qualifying and qualified elements. By analysing the unified powers of the sentence, practical divisions are obtained. But without this practical division, words like saṃprasāraṇa are conveying a sentence-meaning. The relevant words of the Vṛtti, though doubtful in places, are as follows—Tena vākyārthastvekaḥ saṃprasāraṇādiprakārayā mātrāparimāṇayā vibhāgoddeśam antareṇa pratyāyyate. Vākyārthasya hi saṃprasāraṇasaṃjñāvibhāgoddeśena vinā sambandhini vijñāyate.]