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 3.6.9
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 3.6.9:
देशव्यवस्थानियमो दिक्षु न व्यवतिष्ठते ।
रूढमप्यपरत्वेन पूर्वमित्यभिधीयते ॥ ९ ॥deśavyavasthāniyamo dikṣu na vyavatiṣṭhate |
rūḍhamapyaparatvena pūrvamityabhidhīyate || 9 ||9. The determination of the regions is not based on the notion of Directions (dikṣu). One does refer to as ‘pūrva’ what has been long known as apara.
Commentary
[It has been stated that the notions of East, West etc. are based on Dik (Direction). Here a difficulty arises. Sometimes we apply the term ‘pūrva’ to what from the point of view of Dik, is ‘pāścātya’. When we face west, the region in front of us is in the west but we use the expression ‘pūrva’ for it. When one goes from the South (Dakṣiṇāpatha) to the Eastern country, one is said to go to ‘pūrva’, but he is really going north (uttara). Thus, it is clear that we sometimes use the expressions pūrva, para etc. without meaning Dik by them. In other words, the notions of ‘pūrva’ (in front) and paścāt (behind) are not based on Dik. The remark of the M. Bhā. on ‘pūrvasmin deśe vasati’ confirms this. The M. Bhā. is trying to explain why the suffix ‘astāti’ cannot come after the word ‘pūrva’ in ‘purvasmin deśe vasati’. The reason is that the suffix in question is taught after words like pūrva when they directly express deśa (region) whereas, in the expression in question, the word ‘pūrva’ is only an adjective qualifying the word ‘deśa’ which is the word expressive of region. The word ‘pūrva’ is not a ‘dikśabda’ expressive of ‘deśa’ as required by the sūtra P. 5.3.27. Those who maintain that the word here specifies the particular direction (digviśeṣāvaccheda) where the region is, are wrong. The conclusion is that in applying the words pūrva etc. to Dik, there is no upādhi or underlying notion, because they are rūḍhi words, that is, words based on immemorial usage. In applying the words to deśa (regions), dik (direction) is the underlying notion.]
It is now shown that this conclusion is supported by the M. Bhā.