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 3.14.618
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 3.14.618:
सादृश्यमेव सर्वत्र प्रकारः कैश्चिदिष्यते ।
भेदेऽपि तु प्रकाराख्या कैश्चिदभ्युपगम्यते ॥ ६१८ ॥sādṛśyameva sarvatra prakāraḥ kaiścidiṣyate |
bhede'pi tu prakārākhyā kaiścidabhyupagamyate || 618 ||618. Some think that prakāra always means resemblance. Others, on the other hand think that the word prakāra can be applied for variety (bheda) also.
Commentary
[The different views on prakāra are now explained. The word prakāra occurs in P. 8.1.12., 5.4.3. and so on. Everywhere it means resemblance. The words yathā and tathā, when used together point to resemblance between two things. The word paṭujātīya (P. 5.3.69.) means primarily what is paṭu, that is, it also stands for resemblance. The expression paṭupatuḥ (P. 8.1.12.) also means resemblance subordinated to what is paṭu (clever), The same is true of the expression sthūlaka = ‘like who is fat’. Others think that prakāra means ‘variety, class’ everywhere. As two varieties of the same thing must resemble each other, resemblance is also understood even where variety is the meaning. If the variety and resemblance are understood everywhere one should be looked upon as the expressed meaning and the others as the implied meaning. In paśuprakāro devadattaḥ, Devadatta is not understood as a variety of paśu. Here prakāra can only mean resemblance. Even in paśur devadattaḥ, where identity is expressed, resemblance is understood. In neither of these two cases is variety understood.]