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 3.12.2
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 3.12.2:
क्वचित् साधनमेवासौ क्वचित्तस्य विशेषणम् ।
साधनं तत्र कर्मादि व्यक्तवाचो विशेषणम् ॥ २ ॥kvacit sādhanamevāsau kvacittasya viśeṣaṇam |
sādhanaṃ tatra karmādi vyaktavāco viśeṣaṇam || 2 ||2. Sometimes, it is nothing more than the ‘means’ itself and sometimes it is a qualification of it. By ‘means’ the object (karma) etc. are meant and articulate utterers are the qualification.
Commentary
[In expressions like pacyate, gamyate, it is the ‘means’ called karma expressed by the ātmanepada suffix which is the upagraha. By ‘etc’., agent and action (bhāva) are meant. The agent can be expressed by both the substitutes of la, the ātmanepada and the parasmaipada suffixes. Action (bhāva), on the other hand, can be conveyed only by the ātmanepada, as in āsyate and śayyate. In these two examples, the bhāva or action conveyed by the suffix is looked upon as a means because it is external (bhāva) being conveyed by the suffix and it makes clear that the internal action conveyed by the root remains within itself as it is not connected with another means conveyed by the same word. When the speakers are articulate, it qualifies their utterance which is the meaning of the root, as in sampravadante brāhmaṇāḥ, but ultimately, it qualifies the utterer also.]