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 3.14.505
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 3.14.505:
अधीते तुल्य इत्येवं पुंल्लिङ्गेन विशेषणम् ।
क्रियावति क्रियायां तु तुल्यशब्दे नपुंसकम् ॥ ५०५ ॥adhīte tulya ityevaṃ puṃlliṅgena viśeṣaṇam |
kriyāvati kriyāyāṃ tu tulyaśabde napuṃsakam || 505 ||505. If the meaning is ‘one who has action’, one would use the masculine gender as in adhīte tulyaḥ = ‘the one who resembles, studies’. If action is the meaning, the word tulya would be in the neuter gender.
Commentary
[If vati is interpreted as having been taught when two substances qualified by action resemble each other, then they being sattva, the word tulya would take their gender as in brāhmaṇena tulyo'dhīte kṣattriyaḥ = ‘the kṣattriya who resembles a brāhmaṇa, studies’. But then one would not necessarily understand that resemblance is based on action. One can also understand that the kṣattriya, resembling a brāhmaṇa in some other respect, studies. Thus, as resemblance between actions is not understood, the word would not take the suffix vati. But, if resemblance is due to action, then the suffix would be added. Then the word tulya would refer to action which is asattva and would take the common gender, namely, the neuter, as in brāhmaṇena tulyam adhīte, and one would necessarily understand that the resemblance is due to action and the suffix vati would be added. As the word so formed would have no special gender, it would naturally become an indeclinable without being included in the list.]