Vakyapadiya (study of the concept of Sentence)
by Sarath P. Nath | 2018 | 36,088 words
This page relates ‘The Concept of Sentence-Meaning (introduction)’ 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).
5. The Concept of Sentence-Meaning (introduction)
Almost all Indian schools of thought have given primacy to the process of understanding the sentence-meaning, which is known as ' śābdabodha' in their philosophies. Śābdabodha can be simply defined as the cognition of the meaning of a sentence. A sentence is composed of words; whether their existence is considered real as in the case of logicians, Mīmāṃsakas and others or mythical as in the case of grammarians. It is already known that words have potentiality to express definite meanings. The relation between these words that binds them to form a single sentence is the syntactical relation. Various philosophers have explored this syntactical relationship between the words in a sentence which forms various theories of śābdabodha or verbal import (V S Rao, 1969, p.1).
The eight views on sentence, which are ascribed to various preceptors, follow different views on śābdabodha.
In Nyāyabodhinī, which is a commentary on Tarkasaṅgraha, śābdabodha is defined as
"padajñānakaraṇakaṃ jñānam"
—(1971, p.39).
V S Rao translates this as:
"śābdabodha is the cognition effected by the efficient instrumentality of the cognition of words"
—(1969, p.2).
In Nyāyasiddhāntamuktāvalī, the Śabdakhaṇḍa begins with the verse:
padajñānaṃ tu karaṇaṃ dvāraṃ tatra padārthadhīḥ
śābdabodhaḥ phalaṃ tatra śaktidhīḥ sahakāriṇī.
—(Nyāyasiddhāntamuktāvalī 4.81)
This also gives the same idea that the cognition of the meaning of a sentence is caused by the cognition of the individual word-meanings in it. Hence to cognize the meaning of a sentence, word meanings are to be cognized. Thus, the concept of sentence-meaning among these eight different views on sentence, can be ascribed into six various views.