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 3.14.365
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 3.14.365:
येनैव हेतुना श्यामा शस्त्री तत्र प्रवर्तते (प्रतीयते) ।
स हेतुर्देवदत्तायाः प्रत्यये न विशिष्यते ॥ ३६५ ॥yenaiva hetunā śyāmā śastrī tatra pravartate (pratīyate) |
sa heturdevadattāyāḥ pratyaye na viśiṣyate || 365 ||365. That cause by virtue of which the dagger (śastrī) is called dark (śyāmā) does not differ from the one by which Devadattā is so called.
Commentary
[The quality by virtue of which the śastrī is called śyāmā is exactly the same as that by virtue of which Devadattā is so called. To understand this does not involve any comparison. As Helārāja puts it: ubhayoḥ śyāmatvamityeva pratītir nopamārthaḥ kaścid atra = The cognition takes the form: ‘both have the quality of being dark’ (śyāmatvam). There is no comparison here.]