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.

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 3.14.360:

अनिर्ज्ञातं प्रसिद्धेन येन तद्धर्म गम्यते ।
साकल्येनापरिज्ञानादुपमानं तदुच्यते ॥ ३६० ॥

anirjñātaṃ prasiddhena yena taddharma gamyate |
sākalyenāparijñānādupamānaṃ taducyate || 360 ||

360. The well-known object by means of which the less-known is understood to resemble it is called a secondary measure (upamāna) because one does not know a thing completely through it.

Commentary

[The well-known thing by means of which the less-known is understood to resemble it is called a secondary measure (upamāna), because it only helps to get some idea of it and not a complete knowledge of it. It is based on resemblance. Because it can help only in giving some knowledge of an object, scholars are not agreed as to whether it should be recognised as a separate means of valid knowledge at all.]

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