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 1.56
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 1.56:
विषयत्वमनापन्नैः शब्दैर्नार्थः प्रकाश्यते ।
न सत्तयैव तेऽर्थानामगृहीताः प्रकाशकाः ॥ ५६ ॥viṣayatvamanāpannaiḥ śabdairnārthaḥ prakāśyate |
na sattayaiva te'rthānāmagṛhītāḥ prakāśakāḥ || 56 ||56. No meaning is conveyed by words which have not themselves become the objects of knowledge. By their mere existence, even though not understood, they do not convey the meaning.
Commentary
If words could, without becoming primary as the thing to be conveyed, become secondary to the conveyance of the meaning, then, they would, by the mere fact of their presence, whether cognised or not, without becoming the object of a cognition, convey their respective meanings. But they do not do so. Therefore, in the process of the words becoming secondary to the meaning, their assuming the form of the primary, is a necessary part.