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 3.1.51
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 3.1.51:
न विना सङ्ख्यया कश्चित्सत्त्वभूतोऽर्थ उच्यते ।
अतः सर्वस्य निर्देशे सङ्ख्या स्यादविवक्षिता ॥ ५१ ॥na vinā saṅkhyayā kaścitsattvabhūto'rtha ucyate |
ataḥ sarvasya nirdeśe saṅkhyā syādavivakṣitā || 51 ||51. No finished object (sattvabhūto'rthaḥ) can be expressed without a number. Therefore, the number which is found in all expressions is not (necessarily) significant.
Commentary
The author now points out the scope of secondary power (lakṣaṇā) in the formation of words.
[Read verse 51 above]
[A thing is what can be referred to by a pronoun such as ‘this’ or ‘that’. It is always associated with some number. It cannot be otherwise expressed in language. So the number which a word expressive of a thing (dravya) has should not always be taken seriously. It is there only to lend a certain completeness or correctness to the word].
To this general rule, some point out an exception,