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 3.14.318
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 3.14.318:
आश्रयाणां हि लिङ्गैः सा नियतैरेव युज्यते ।
तथा च युक्तवद्भावे प्रतिषेधो निरर्थकः ॥ ३१८ ॥āśrayāṇāṃ hi liṅgaiḥ sā niyataireva yujyate |
tathā ca yuktavadbhāve pratiṣedho nirarthakaḥ || 318 ||318. The universal is connected with the fixed gender of their substrata. Therefore, the prohibition relating to universals in connection with qualities taking the gender and number of what they are connected with is unnecessary.
Commentary
How is the universal said to have a fixed gender (āviṣṭaliṅgatā) if it is presented by words having different genders?
[Read verse 318 above]
[Thus the universal is expressed by means of words having different genders. And yet one speaks of it as being āviṣṭaliṅgā = having a fixed gender. All the three words vṛkṣa, pādapa and taru mean ‘tree’ and have the masculine gender. But names of particular trees like śiṃśapā are feminine or neuter like panasa. Some words have two genders and others like taṭa have all the three. This is what is meant by āviṣṭaliṅgatā of the universal, namely, that it is conveyed by words having a fixed gender. That is why the prohibition ajāteḥ in P. 1.2.52. is unnecessary because words expressive of the universal do not take the gender of the word in which the taddhita suffix has been elided (lup).]