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 3.9.79
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 3.9.79:
भूतो घट इतीयं च सत्ताया एव भूतता ।
भूता सत्तेति सत्तायाः सत्ता भूताभिधीयते ॥ ७९ ॥bhūto ghaṭa itīyaṃ ca sattāyā eva bhūtatā |
bhūtā satteti sattāyāḥ sattā bhūtābhidhīyate || 79 ||79. In the expression, ‘the jar is past’ (bhūto ghaṭaḥ) it is the existence of the jar which is said to be past. In the expression ‘the existence is past’ (bhūtā sattā) the existence of existence is expressed as past.
Commentary
[When we say bhūto ghaṭaḥ, using a suffix expressive of the past tense, what is really past? Not the jar, because it is a sub- stance and so it has no connection with time. Actions are sādhya, that is, processes and so they are connected with time. The action called ‘existence’ or ‘being’, expressed by the root, is connected with the meaning of the suffix kta. The sattā exists in the jar. Thus it is indirectly connected with the jar and not directly with substance and time. Even according to the view that Time is different from action, there is connection between time and substance through action. In the sentence bhūtā sattā, the sattā expressed by the root is in the form of action and the sattā expressed by the word sattā is in the form of a substance. Therefore, the pastness of the latter is understood through the pastness of the former. Even though sattā is eternal, it assumes diversity through its substrata and becomes associated with the three aspects of time through its substrata.]