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 3.14.260
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 3.14.260:
यथा गौरादिभिस्तेषामवच्छेदो विधीयते ।
असताप्यनभिव्यक्तं तादात्म्यं व्यज्यते तथा ॥ २६० ॥yathā gaurādibhisteṣāmavacchedo vidhīyate |
asatāpyanabhivyaktaṃ tādātmyaṃ vyajyate tathā || 260 ||260. Just as words like ‘gaura’ = ‘fair’ bring about specification, in the same way the negative particle expressive of non existence makes manifest the unmanifested identity.
Commentary
[An illustration is now given to show how the negative particle can be the qualifier. When we say gauraḥ brāhmaṇaḥ = the fair brāhmaṇa, the word gauraḥ makes explicit what was implicit. That is, any brāhmaṇa can be potentially gauraḥ and the adjective gauraḥ specifies that the brāhmaṇa in question is so. Similarly, non-existence, like other qualities, is implicit in all objects and the negative particle brings it out, specifies the object. So it becomes a qualifier.]