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 3.8.11
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 3.8.11:
पूर्वोत्तरैस्तदा भागैः समवस्थापितक्रमः ।
एकः सोऽप्यसदध्यासादाख्यातैरभिधीयते ॥ ११ ॥pūrvottaraistadā bhāgaiḥ samavasthāpitakramaḥ |
ekaḥ so'pyasadadhyāsādākhyātairabhidhīyate || 11 ||11. That attains sequence through the earlier and later parts and the non-present (asad) action being superimposed upon it, it can also be expressed by the verbs.
Commentary
[Yāska, the author of the Nirukta has also defined what the verb expresses in a similar manner. His statement is: Pūrvāparībhūtam bhāvam ākhyātenācaṣṭe vrajati pacati ityupakramaprabhṛtyapavargaparyantam = ‘One expresses Being which has inner sequence, from its beginning till its completion, by means of the verb, as for example, the verbs vrajati = he goes, pacati = he cooks, (Ni., 1.1.11.). In pūrvāparibhūta, YĀSKA has used the suffix cvi which implies that something has been transformed into another (abhūtatadbhāva). That is because the whole is superimposed on the part, the part is transformed into the whole, as it were.]
There is the root √as. It is supposed to express sattā = ‘being’, ‘existence’. Sattā is conceived of as nityā = eternal akramā = ‘without inner sequence’, asādhyā = not to be brought about. How then can it be the meaning of a verb?