Vakyapadiya (study of the concept of Sentence)
by Sarath P. Nath | 2018 | 36,088 words
This page relates ‘Sentence According to Other Schools’ of the study on Vakyapadiya by Bhartrhari and his treatment of the Concept of Sentence in Language. Bhartrhari was a great grammarian and philosopher who explored the depth and breadth of Sanskrit grammar. These pages analyse the concepts and discussions on sentence and sentence-meaning presented in the Vakyapadiya, against the different systems of knowledge prevalent in ancient India (such as Mimamsa, Nyaya and Vyakarana).
Go directly to: Concepts.
3.4. Sentence According to Other Schools
The subdivisions of the School of Vedānta viz. Advaita, Viśiṣṭādvaita and Dvaita Schools also deny the eternity of śabda, advocated by Bhartṛhari and the concept of sphoṭa. Though any of these schools do not emphasise the concept of language and language analysis in the technical discussions, some glimpses can be found in several works of these schools. Advatins admit that, letters, the objects of recollection, which results from the latent impressions born out of each letter, is the word or sentence. Śaṅkara states that the letters generate the notion of a word thanks to their definite sequence (Under 1.3.28). This school also admit the necessity of syntactic expectancy etc. of words in a sentence. The Viśiṣṭādvaitins as well as Dvaitins also accept the same view as of Śaṅkara. According to them, letters constitute a word and the words constitute a sentence (Tatacharya, Introduction, 2005, p.xxx)
The Sāṅkhya system, like the Naiyāyikas, views sentence as the group of words and a word as the group of phonemes.
The followers of this school reject the sphoṭa theory of the grammarians:
"pratītyapratītibhyām na sphoṭātmakaḥ śabdaḥ",
—(Sāṅkhyasūtra, 5.57)
And the theory of eternity of letters, advocated by the Mīmāṃsakas:
"na śabdanityatvam kāryatāpratīteḥ",
—(Sāṅkhyasūtra, 5.58).
In the Yoga system, the nature of sentence is explained in the aphorism:
"śabdārthapratyayānāmitaretarādhyāsāt saṅkaraḥ tatpravibhāgasamyamāt sarvabhūtarutajñānam"
—(Yogasūtras 3.17).
According to this aphorism, the letters are uttered in a particular order and they become the content of a single cognition and thus constitute a single unit, word. Though the word is manifested by the final letter along with the latent impressions of previous letters, it does not have any reference to the sequence of letters. Thus the Yoga School accepts the nature of sentence similar to that of Grammarians (Tatacharya, Introduction, 2005, p.xxxiii).
Other Vyakarana Concepts:
Discover the significance of concepts within the article: ‘3.4. Sentence According to Other Schools’. Further sources in the context of Vyakarana might help you critically compare this page with similair documents:
Naiyayika, Mimamsaka, Single cognition, Definite sequence, Grammarian.
Concepts being referred within the main category of Hinduism context and sources.
Vishishta Advaita, Sankhya system, Yoga system, Group of words, Sphota theory, Latent impression.