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 3.5.9
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 3.5.9:
अरूपं पररूपेण द्रव्यमाख्यायते यथा ।
अप्रकर्षं प्रकर्षेण गुणस्याविश्यते तथा ॥ ९ ॥arūpaṃ pararūpeṇa dravyamākhyāyate yathā |
aprakarṣaṃ prakarṣeṇa guṇasyāviśyate tathā || 9 ||9. Just as the formless object is expressed through the form of another (its quality), in the same way, being itself devoid of difference in degree, it acquires it through such a difference in its quality.
Commentary
It is now stated how difference of degree in one thing results in difference of degree in another.
[Read verse 9 above]
[An object, in isolation from its attributes, cannot come within the range of speech. When qualified by an attribute it can be expressed in words. It is also difficult to distinguish a thing from its attribute. Therefore, excellence of the attribute results in the excellence of the object. It is not confined to its own excellence, isolated from the object, nor to that of the object, isolated from its attribute.]