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 3.14.407
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 3.14.407:
गुरुशिष्यपितापुत्रक्रियाकालादयो यथा ।
व्यवहारास्तथौपम्यमप्यपेक्षानिबन्धनम् ॥ ४०७ ॥guruśiṣyapitāputrakriyākālādayo yathā |
vyavahārāstathaupamyamapyapekṣānibandhanam || 407 ||407. Like the notions of teacher, pupil, father, son, action, time etc., that of (the standard of) comparison is also relative.
Commentary
[Now other examples are given. Nobody is a teacher in regard to a teacher, nor a pupil in regard to a pupil, nor a son in regard to his son, nor a father in regard to his father. An action is so called in regard to its accessories (sādhana) and not in regard to another action. An action with a fixed and well-known dimension can be a measure of other actions and thus called Time. Like the above conceptions, that of qualifier and qualified is also relative. A ‘gayal’ can be a secondary measure (upamāna) to a forest-dweller to whom it is well-known, but to a town-dweller, it would be an upameya. To a lover, the beloved’s face can be upamāna in regard to the moon, but to others, it would be just the other way. Thus all these notions are relative.]
Now M. Bhā. I. p. 397, 1. 13-14 in which an example of P. 2.1.55 is given is going to be discussed.