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 3.13.29
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 3.13.29:
यथा प्रसिद्धेऽप्येकत्वे नानात्वाभिनिवेशिनः ।
नानात्वं जनयन्तीव शब्दा लिङ्गेऽपि स क्रमः ॥ २९ ॥yathā prasiddhe'pyekatve nānātvābhiniveśinaḥ |
nānātvaṃ janayantīva śabdā liṅge'pi sa kramaḥ || 29 ||29. Just as even where singularity is well-established, words expressive of plurality produce the cognition of plurality, such is the case with gender.
Commentary
[The point mentioned in the previous verse is now explained by means of an illustration. Gender is like number in some cases. Water is one, but the word āpaḥ brings to us a cognition in which plurality figures. The words dārāḥ, sikatāḥ, gṛhāḥ, are examples of words which cause the cognition of plurality even when the objects in question may be only one. In the same way, the words tārakā, nakṣatram cause the cognition of a gender which does not exist in the corresponding object.]