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...
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Verse 2.342
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 2.342:
वाक्यस्य बुद्धौ नित्यत्वमर्थयोगं च लौकिकम् ।
दृष्ट्वा चतुष्ट्वं नास्तीति वार्तक्षौदुम्बरायणौ ॥ ३४२ ॥vākyasya buddhau nityatvamarthayogaṃ ca laukikam |
dṛṣṭvā catuṣṭvaṃ nāstīti vārtakṣaudumbarāyaṇau || 342 ||342. Having seen the eternality of the sentence in the mind and its connection in the world with its meaning, Vārttākṣa and Audumbarāyaṇa have declared that there are no four parts of speech.
Commentary
The Grammarian answers—
[Read verse 342 above]
[When the hearer grasps the indivisible sentence, he is not conscious of any parts in the form of individual words. Nor is he conscious of word-meanings when he grasps the sentence meaning consisting of pratibhā.
As the sentence is indivisible the individual word does not exist and so the question of the different kinds of words or parts of speech does not arise. Those who believe in śrutārthāpatti would naturally accept divisions within the sentence and their being brought under four classes.
What then is the function of the Śāstra?