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 3.9.99
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 3.9.99:
आख्यातपदवाच्येऽर्थे निर्वर्त्यत्वात् प्रधानता ।
विशेषणं तदाक्षेपात् तत्काले व्यवतिष्ठते ॥ ९९ ॥ākhyātapadavācye'rthe nirvartyatvāt pradhānatā |
viśeṣaṇaṃ tadākṣepāt tatkāle vyavatiṣṭhate || 99 ||99. The idea expressed by the verb is the main one because it is a process. That which it calls forth is subordinate and follows its tense.
Commentary
But why not say that the suffix in āsīt expresses the past as qualified by the future?
[Read verse 99 above]
[Because, in a sentence, the meaning of the verb is more important than that of the noun. It is the former which is the viśeṣva—the qualified and the latter which is the viśeṣaṇa. Thus, in the sentence in question, the word bhāvī, without ceasing to express its own original meaning follows the meaning of the verb. The subordinate word was already capable of expressing the new meaning. That power became manifest only when it came into contact with the other word in the sentence.]