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 3.14.616
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 3.14.616:
तत्रोन्मेषनिमेषाभ्यां खद्योत उपमीयते ।
श्वासप्रबन्धैर्मण्डूकः स्पन्दमानप्रभोमणिः ॥ ६१६ ॥tatronmeṣanimeṣābhyāṃ khadyota upamīyate |
śvāsaprabandhairmaṇḍūkaḥ spandamānaprabhomaṇiḥ || 616 ||616. A fire-fly is compared because of the brightening and dimming of its lustre, a frog because of its constant breathing in and out and a precious stone because of its scintillating lustre.
Commentary
[The resemblance in these cases is now explained. The fire-fly, even though not moving, looks like moving, being enveloped in its own lustre. It is then called cañcatka. Its own lustre brightens and dims alternately in a continuous manner. So it looks like moving. Similarly, because of its constant breathing in and out, the frog looks moving even when it is not. A precious stone, because of its constantly scintillating lustre, looks moving even when it is not.]