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 3.7.61
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 3.7.61:
ब्रवीति पचतेरर्थं सिद्ध्यतिर्न विना णिचम् ।
स ण्यन्तः पचतेरर्थो प्रकृते व्यवतिष्ठते ॥ ६१ ॥bravīti pacaterarthaṃ siddhyatirna vinā ṇicam |
sa ṇyantaḥ pacaterartho prakṛte vyavatiṣṭhate || 61 ||61. The root ‘sidhyati’ cannot express the meaning of the root ‘√pac’ without the causative affix. But when it takes the causative affix (ṇic), it expresses the original meaning of the root ‘√pac’.
Commentary
An example is now given of roots with and without the suffix ‘ṇic’ conveying the same meaning.
[Read verse 61 above]
[We sometimes see that roots ending in the causative affix have the same meaning as others not having a similar ending. In ‘sidhyaty odanaḥ’, the root ‘sidh’ means only ‘becoming soft’. But the same root with ‘ṇic’, that is, ‘sādhayati’, means ‘making soft’ to which becoming soft is subordinate. In the same way, the root ‘ruh’ can have the same meaning whether it has ‘ṇic’ or not.]
It is now stated that the object becomes agent when the initiative (preṣaṇa) of the latter is not meant.