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 3.14.387
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 3.14.387:
नात्यन्ताय मिमीते यत् सामान्ये समवस्थितम् ।
सादृश्यादुपमेयार्थः समीपे परिकल्प्यते ॥ ३८७ ॥nātyantāya mimīte yat sāmānye samavasthitam |
sādṛśyādupameyārthaḥ samīpe parikalpyate || 387 ||387. Since the secondary measure being based on the common property, does not measure a thing completely, the object of comparison is understood as being near it.
Commentary
So far the intention of the M. Bhā. I, p. 397, 11. 9-10. has been explained. It is now shown that this explanation is based on the text itself.
[Read verse 387 above]
[That which determines or measures a thing fully is a measure (māna). Measures like prastha and universals etc. are examples. That which is near the object of comparison is a secondary measure (upamāna). Nearness is based on similarity of attributes. The secondary measure can determine a thing only through resemblance and so it does so incompletely. Śastrī can determine Devadattā only as being dark. It does not say anything more about her, it does not refer to the feminine and the like in her. So it is an incomplete measure. It does no more than go near the object of comparison. Tatsamīpe yan nātyantāya mimīte tad upamānam, as the M. Bhā. passage says.]
This M. Bhā. sentence is now differently explained.