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 3.14.307
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 3.14.307:
सामान्यद्रव्यवृत्तित्वान्निमित्तानुविधायिनः ।
अयोगो लिङ्गसंख्याभ्यां स्याद् वा सामान्यधर्मता ॥ ३०७ ॥sāmānyadravyavṛttitvānnimittānuvidhāyinaḥ |
ayogo liṅgasaṃkhyābhyāṃ syād vā sāmānyadharmatā || 307 ||307. As the compound follows its basis, it would denote substance in general and so it cannot have gender and number or it would have only a common attribute (that is, general gender and number.)
Commentary
[If the meaning of the first term is predominant, that being an indeclinable, the whole compound would become indeclinable too and we cannot have forms like abrāhmaṇau and abrāhmaṇāḥ. In a sentence, the negative particle means non-existence in general and not substance. In a compound also, it means the same thing, qualified, of course, by the meaning of the second term. Therefore, the compound cannot have gender and number. Even if it is held that the compound denotes substance and not asattva, it would be generic substance and, therefore, there can only be singular number and neuter gender and we could only have the form abrāhmaṇam.]