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 3.14.301
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 3.14.301:
अवृष्टयो यथावर्षा नीहाराभ्रसमावृताः ।
तद्रूपत्वात् स हेमन्त इत्यभिन्नः प्रतीयते ॥ ३०१ ॥avṛṣṭayo yathāvarṣā nīhārābhrasamāvṛtāḥ |
tadrūpatvāt sa hemanta ityabhinnaḥ pratīyate || 301 ||301. Days when there is no rain but which are covered with mist and clouds are said to be ‘rainless’ (avarṣāḥ). Winter being such, it is identified with it.
Commentary
[How the compound avarṣā is based on resemblance is now explained. When mist (or snow) is everywhere, the sky is covered with dark clouds but it is not actually raining, one can say that the days are avarṣāḥ. When the winter day is dark, it is like a rainless day in the rainy season. One can then say avarṣā hemantaḥ, on the basis of resemblance. The negative compound (avarṣā) applied to a winter day on the basis of resemblance refers to an outside object. In itself, it is a tatpuruṣa compound which stands for the meaning of its own constituents (svapadārthe) but as it involves comparison, it points to an outside object (anya-padārtha). If it were treated as a bahuvrīhi, the ā of varṣā would become short because it would be an upasarjana word. (P. 1.2.48.). Some, therefore, think that, in the compound abrāhmaṇa also, the meaning of the outside word is predominant, because of the comparison which it involves. ]