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 3.14.321
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 3.14.321:
प्रवृत्तिरिति सामान्यं लक्षणं तस्य कथ्यते ।
आविर्भावस्तिरोभावः स्थितिश्चेत्यथ भिद्यते ॥ ३२१ ॥pravṛttiriti sāmānyaṃ lakṣaṇaṃ tasya kathyate |
āvirbhāvastirobhāvaḥ sthitiścetyatha bhidyate || 321 ||321. The general characteristic of gender is said to be activity (pravṛtti) and it is diversified into appearance, disappearance and stay.
Commentary
What the grammarian’s conception of gender is has been set forth in the M.Bhā. on P. 1.2.64. and 4.1.3. The qualities of things arc constantly changing and change in general, irrespective of any particularity in the change, is called pravṛtti and that is gender. This change may be āvirbhāva = coming into being or tirobhāva = disappearance or sthiti = staying as it is. These are the three different genders. By qualities rūpa, rasa, gandha, sparśa and śabda are meant and they are based on the more fundamental sattva, rajas and tamas, the three qualities of primordial matter prakṛti. When rajas is active, some of the five qualities come into being and that is āvirbhāva, the masculine gender. When some of the five qualities are submerged, that is tirobhāva, the feminine gender. For more details on the grammarian’s conception of gender, see my Bhartṛhari, pp. 359-370.]