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 3.14.296
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 3.14.296:
एकार्थे वर्तमानाभ्यामसता ब्राह्मणेन च ।
यदा जात्यन्तरं बाह्यं क्षत्रियाद्यपदिश्यते ॥ २९६ ॥ekārthe vartamānābhyāmasatā brāhmaṇena ca |
yadā jātyantaraṃ bāhyaṃ kṣatriyādyapadiśyate || 296 ||296. When the non-existent in general and the meaning of the word brāhmaṇa refer to the same object and denote an outside object like kṣattriya (then there is predominance of the meaning of the outside word).
Commentary
The predominance of the meaning of the outside word in a negative compound is now referred to.
[Read verse 296 above]
[ We see that these negative compounds denote something which is the opposite of what the second constituent denotes. If the view is that the second term denotes something on which the meaning of the second term is superimposed, then the meaning of the second form is predominant, as already explained. But if the view is that the negative particle stands for non-existence in general and it enters into the relation of qualifier and qualified with the meaning of the second constituent which is of a positive nature and together they denote something external, then this external thing is predominant. Abrāhmaṇa, for instance, would mean something of which the brāhmaṇa is not the substratum, that is, the universal kṣattriya which is external because it is not the meaning of any one of the two constituents. ]
To show that even if the meaning of the outside word is predominant in a negative compound, it is not a bahuvrīhi but a tatpuruṣa, an illustration is given.