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 3.14.447
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 3.14.447:
सर्वस्य परिहारार्थं समुदायत्वमाश्रितम् ।
शुद्धायाः संभवान्नस्यात् क्रियाया ब्राह्मणादिषु ॥ ४४७ ॥sarvasya parihārārthaṃ samudāyatvamāśritam |
śuddhāyāḥ saṃbhavānnasyāt kriyāyā brāhmaṇādiṣu || 447 ||447. The idea that words normally stand for a combination of qualities has been adopted in order to meet all objections. Otherwise, as it is possible to have a word expressive of pure action, the suffix could not be added to words like brāhmaṇa.
Commentary
[Read previous verse] [...] Why does the author of the M. Bhā. first say that all words mean normally a combination of qualities but that sometimes they may stand for a part of them only. So a word like brāhmaṇa normally means a combination of the three qualities: austerity (tapas), learning (śrutam) and birth (yoniḥ), but sometimes may stand only for just one quality like learning, or a particular mode of study. On this basis, the word kriyā in P.5.1.115 has been connected with the word tena in the same and interpreted to mean: “if the word ending in the third case-affix means action.” In other words, the words kriyā has been interpreted as a qualifier of the meaning of the stem. Why this has been done is now stated.
[Read verse 447 above]
[It is in order to meet all objections that the author of the M. Bhā. has stated that words ordinarily stand for a combination of qualities. Otherwise, the suffix vati could not be added to a word like brāhmaṇa as in the expression brāhmaṇavad adhīte kṣattriyaḥ, because there are words like śayitavya which express pure action primarily and the suffix would be added to them preferably. The word brāhmaṇa can stand for action only secondarily as, primarily, it stands for a combination of qualities. 11 by P. 5.1.115, the suffix vati is to be added to a stem expressive of action, it would preferably be added to a stem which docs so primarily rather than to one which does so secondarily. Or the Bhāṣyakāra may mean that a word expressive ol pure action cannot take the third case-affix.]