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 3.1.28
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 3.1.28:
विधौ वा प्रतिषेधे वा ब्राह्मणत्वादि साधनम् ।
व्यक्त्याश्रिताश्रिता जातेः संख्याजातिर्विशेषिका ॥ २८ ॥vidhau vā pratiṣedhe vā brāhmaṇatvādi sādhanam |
vyaktyāśritāśritā jāteḥ saṃkhyājātirviśeṣikā || 28 ||28. A universal such as brāhmaṇa-hood is the accessory in the case of a command or a prohibition. This universal is qualified by the one belonging to the number of the individual.
Commentary
The author now states that, according to the view that the word denotes, the universal, it is not the individual which is the accessory of an action (sādhana), but the universal.
[Read verse 28 above]
[It is the universal which is the object of all the actions, commands or prohibitions, which are found in the Vedas. In carrying them out, it is the universal which is the accessory, that is, the means (sādhana). Not only that. The universal of the number expressed by the suffix qualifies this universal].
As the universal is never found apart from the individual, would it be right to maintain that the word expresses the former only? This doubt is now answered.