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 3.14.137-138
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 3.14.137-138:
रूपाच्च शब्दसंस्कारः सामान्यविषयो यतः ।
तस्मात् तदाश्रयं लिङ्गं वचनं च प्रसज्यते ॥ १३७ ॥
सलिङ्गं च ससङ्ख्यं च ततो द्रव्याभिधायिना ।
सम्बध्यते पदं तत्र तयोर्भिन्ना श्रुतिर्भवेत् ॥ १३८ ॥rūpācca śabdasaṃskāraḥ sāmānyaviṣayo yataḥ |
tasmāt tadāśrayaṃ liṅgaṃ vacanaṃ ca prasajyate || 137 ||
saliṅgaṃ ca sasaṅkhyaṃ ca tato dravyābhidhāyinā |
sambadhyate padaṃ tatra tayorbhinnā śrutirbhavet || 138 ||137. As, from the form of the word, it is understood that its formation has the general as the basis. Therefore, the gender and number of the general would result.
138. And so the word with its gender and number would be connected with the word expressive of substance and the two words would have different genders and numbers.
Commentary
[It might be said that, as the particular has to be expressed, it would become the basis of the formation of the word even if it is found in an external word. The fact is that only that becomes the basis of the formation of a word which is actually understood from the word and from a complex formation (vṛtti) it is gender and number in general which are understood and they would be the basis of the word-formation. Once the word is formed, gender and number in general cannot be given up.]