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 2.402
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 2.402:
बहुष्वेकाभिधानेषु सर्वेष्वेकार्थकारिषु ।
यत्प्रयोक्ताभिसन्धत्ते शब्दस्तत्रावतिष्ठते ॥ ४०२ ॥bahuṣvekābhidhāneṣu sarveṣvekārthakāriṣu |
yatprayoktābhisandhatte śabdastatrāvatiṣṭhate || 402 ||402. When many things are denoted by a word and all of them can be equally well-connected, with an action, that thing, which the speaker intends to convey, is conveyed by the word.
Commentary
[The purpose of the verse is to emphasize the speaker’s intention in the process by which words convey their meaning: As the Vṛtti puts it:—Tatra yat prayoktābhisandhatte tadvacanatvam avyabhicāreṇa śabdasya pratīyate.]