Verse 2.398

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 2.398:

नार्थवत्ता पदे वर्णे वाक्ये चैवं विशिष्यते ।
अभ्यासात् प्रक्रमोऽन्यस्तु विरुद्ध इव दृश्यते ॥ ३९८ ॥

nārthavattā pade varṇe vākye caivaṃ viśiṣyate |
abhyāsāt prakramo'nyastu viruddha iva dṛśyate || 398 ||

398. As far as meaningfulness is concerned, there is no difference between the individual word, the phoneme and the sentence. This procedure based on practice (tradition) is different and appears to contradict the accepted doctrine.

Commentary

[It was stated in v. 396 that the case-ending added at the end of the stem indicates the meaningfulness, not only of the stem but also of the phonemes and of the individual words if, any, included in the stem. This seems to go against the accepted doctrine of the grammarians that only the indivisible sentence is real and expressive of meaning. Really speaking, there is no contradiction. It has already been said that the meaningfulness of the individual word is accepted for the sake of convenience. But as this question of convenience comes up on so many occasions, it appears to be taken seriously but it is not so. It is accepted only for the sake of. convenience. Convenience includes also accommodation to other śāstras because Vyākaraṇa is sarvapārṣada = common to all schools of thought, as so often repeated by commentators like Helārāja and Puṇyarāja.]

The function of the word in conveying its meaning is now considered.