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 3.14.154
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 3.14.154:
आख्यायते च शास्त्रेण लोकरूढा स्वभावतः ।
निमित्ततुल्या गोदादौ प्रवृत्तिर्लिङ्गसंख्ययोः ॥ १५४ ॥ākhyāyate ca śāstreṇa lokarūḍhā svabhāvataḥ |
nimittatulyā godādau pravṛttirliṅgasaṃkhyayoḥ || 154 ||154. The use of the gender and number of the nimitta (the basis of the application of a word to an object) in expression like godau grāmaḥ, naturally current in the world, is made known by the śāstra (P. 1.2.51.).
Commentary
[Where there is the relation of identity between the nimitta and the nimitti, should the gender and number of the former prevail or those of the latter? In śuklāḥ paṭāḥ, the latter prevails, in pañcālāḥ janapadaḥ, the former prevails. As the country where the kṣattriyas called pañcālaḥ live is called pañcālāḥ, the kṣattriyās are the nimitta for the application of the word to the country and as the kṣattriyas have the masculine gender and the plural number, the word pañcālāḥ, even when it means the country, has the same gender and number. This variation is due to the natural variation in the power of words. The śāstra only makes it known. It does not create it. According to P. 1.2.52, though ordinarily, the gender and number of the nimitti prevail, in some special cases, those of the nimitta prevail.]