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 3.14.474
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 3.14.474:
केवलानां तु भावानां न रूपमवधार्यते ।
अनिरूपितरूपेषु तेषु शब्दो न वर्तते ॥ ४७४ ॥kevalānāṃ tu bhāvānāṃ na rūpamavadhāryate |
anirūpitarūpeṣu teṣu śabdo na vartate || 474 ||474. The form of bare objects cannot be cognised and a word cannot express them if their form is not cognised.
Commentary
[As expression through words is preceded by cognition and as the bare substance is not cognised in this view it is the substance as characterised by its properties that is expressed by the word. Words expressive of a combination can express one of the elements also. That is why pūrve pañcālāḥ = ‘the eastern Pañcāla’ is given as an illustration. The word pañcālāḥ means a country and a country being one, it cannot be qualified by the word pūrve. So here the word expressive of the whole is used for a part of it.]