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 3.3.16
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 3.3.16:
स्वाश्रयेण तु संयुक्तैः संयुक्तं विभु गम्यते ।
समवायस्य संबन्धो नापरस्तत्र दृश्यते ॥ १६ ॥svāśrayeṇa tu saṃyuktaiḥ saṃyuktaṃ vibhu gamyate |
samavāyasya saṃbandho nāparastatra dṛśyate || 16 ||16. A word conveys an all-pervasive object which is in contact with what is in contact with its substratum. But no other relation is seen for inherence.
Commentary
[Space, Time and Soul are all-pervasive. They cannot, therefore, come into any new and direct contact with ākāśa which is also all-pervasive. They are conveyed by their words (Dik, kāla, ātmā) by the relation of śvāśraya-saṃyuktasaṃyoga in the following way: Earth etc. are in contact with ākāśa. Space, Time and Soul are in contact with earth etc. The qualities which inhere in all-pervasive objects are con- veyed by their words by śvāśraya-saṃyuktasamavāya. The universal which inheres in these qualities is conveyed by svāśraya-saṃyuktasamavetasamavāya. Thus, how substance, quality, action and universal are conveyed by words has been shown. The word viśeṣa conveys the particularity (viśeṣa) inherent in atoms by saṃyuktasamavāya. It conveys the particularity inherent in ākāśa by inherence in the same thing. It conveys the particularity inherent in Dik, kāla and ātmā by svāśraya-saṃyuktasamavāya. Thus the way in which words convey five out of the six categories accepted by the Vaiśeṣikas has been explained. Nothing has been said about inherence, also one of their categories. It is not a substance and so cannot be related to anything by conjunction. Nor can there be another inherence. Nor can one argue as follows:—“The word samavāya, being a word, inheres in ākāśa. Jar etc. are in conjunction with ākāśa which is all-pervasive. Inherence exists in jar etc. Therefore, the word samavāya conveys its meaning by śvāśraya-saṃyuktasaṃbandha, relation with what is in conjunction with one’s own substratum”. Inherence can exist in jar etc. only by inherence and there cannot be a second inherence.]