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 3.14.391
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 3.14.391:
भेदेन तुल्यरूपत्वाच्छालींस्तानिति दृश्यते ।
जात्यभेदात् स एवायमिति भिन्नोऽभिधीयते ॥ ३९१ ॥bhedena tulyarūpatvācchālīṃstāniti dṛśyate |
jātyabhedāt sa evāyamiti bhinno'bhidhīyate || 391 ||391. Even where there is difference one sees the expression “those rice-grains”, because of resemblance and what are different are spoken of as the same because of the same universal.
Commentary
[Due to common attributes, difference is ignored and a different rice is referred to as the same. Similarly, we use such expressions as ‘the same clothes are being worn’. Understanding of same-ness is due not only to the existence of a common property, but also to the same universal, as in the expression: ‘let four brahmins bring the water pot’. The individual differences of the brahmins are ignored and they are all referred to by the same word, because of their common jāti. Similarly, here also due to proximity arising from a common attribute or a common universal, the question of the identity of the standard and the object of comparison can arise.]
It is now stated that the question of their difference can also arise.