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 2.126ab
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 2.126ab:
समुदायोऽभिधेयो वाऽप्यविकल्पसमुच्चयः ।
samudāyo'bhidheyo vā'pyavikalpasamuccayaḥ |
126(ab). According to others, the particular forms taken as a whole but without choice or combination are the expressed meaning of a word.
Commentary
[If a word denotes all the forms and shapes taken on by the individuals coming under it, it would always have to be put in the plural number. If, on the other hand, it denotes an indefinite number of such forms and shapes, there would be indefiniteness in regard to number. That is why the author says: avikalpasamuccayaḥ. What it appears to mean is that the exact number of forms and shapes is not present to the mind. See Tattvasaṅgraha, 887, with Pañjikā. Puṇyarāja says that this matter will be discussed in detail in the upamāsamuddeśa. There is no such samuddeśa among the fourteen which make up the third kāṇḍa. Can it be a lost samuddeśa?]
The fifth view
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