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 1.58
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 1.58:
भेदेनावगृहीतौ द्वौ शब्दधर्मावपोद्धृतौ ।
भेदकार्येषु हेतुत्वमविरोधेन गच्छतः ॥ ५८ ॥bhedenāvagṛhītau dvau śabdadharmāvapoddhṛtau |
bhedakāryeṣu hetutvamavirodhena gacchataḥ || 58 ||58. These two abstracted powers of words, treated as different, become, without opposition, the cause of operations depending upon difference.
Commentary
Just as, both in the world and in the Science of Grammar, we perform, in regard to things within which difference has been artificially made by the mind on the basis of difference in point of view (nimitta) all the operations which depend on real difference, in the same way, in regard to words also, when one separates by abstraction (apoddhāra) their powers of being revealer and revealed all the operations such as the application of names like ‘designation’ (saṃjñā) and ‘designated’ (saṃjñin) have been taught in the science of Grammar!
Notes
1. In the world, when we say ‘a gold ring’, we are applying the words ‘gold’ and ‘ring’ to the same thing. When we thiṅk of the material with which it is made, we call it gold, when we thiṅk of its shape, we call it ring. This is what is called vyapadeśivadbhāva. On account of this difference in point of view, we san say: suvarṇasya aṅgulīyakam, ie. we can use the sixth case-affix (ṣaṣṭḥī) which we ordinarily do only when there is real difference as in rājñaḥ puruṣaḥ. The Sūtra svaṃ rūpaṃ śabdasyāśabdasaṃjñā (P. 1.1.68) tells us that, in the Science of Grammar, grammatical operations are ordinarily on the basis of this difference by artificial abstraction.