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 1.155
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 1.155:
उभयेषामविच्छेदादन्यशब्दविवक्षया ।
योन्यः प्रयुज्यते शब्दो न सोऽर्थस्याभिधायकः ॥ १५५ ॥ubhayeṣāmavicchedādanyaśabdavivakṣayā |
yonyaḥ prayujyate śabdo na so'rthasyābhidhāyakaḥ || 155 ||155. Both (the correct and the corrupt forms) have been handed down to us uninterruptedly. Still, when, intending to use one (the correct form) the speaker uses the other (the corrupt form) it is not the latter which must be deemed to be expressive of the meaning.
Commentary
Even according to those who do not believe in old times nor in an unmixed Divine Word which existed sometime ago, this distinction between correct and corrupt words, as the distinction between which woman one can marry and which not, has always been transmitted, without a break, by the cultured. The word, which, like the talk of children, is actually used to convey a meaning when some other word was meant to be used and has entered into usage and the one (which is similarly used) but which has not entered into usage, neither is expressive of the meaning. In such cases, either the meaning is understood preceded by the remembrance of the correct word or, as with the ignorant, something is understood from those words as from winking and the like.
Thus has ended the chapter relating to Brahman, entitled “Collection of Traditions” in the ‘Treatise on the Sentence and the Word’ composed by Harivṛṣabha, the Great Grammarian.