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 3.3.4
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 3.3.4:
नाभिधानं स्वधर्मेण संबन्धस्यास्ति वाचकम् ।
अत्यन्तपरतन्त्रत्वाद्रूपं नास्यापदिश्यते ॥ ४ ॥nābhidhānaṃ svadharmeṇa saṃbandhasyāsti vācakam |
atyantaparatantratvādrūpaṃ nāsyāpadiśyate || 4 ||4. There is no verbal element (besides the genitive suffix) which denotes this relation in its essential property. Being extremely dependent, its own form is never cognised.
Commentary
[There is no word which directly denotes relation. Ordinarily we observe things and their properties and use appropriate words to define or describe them. We cannot do that in the case of relation, because we cannot observe it objectively (idaṃtayā svarūpānavadhāraṇāt). Qualities like ‘white’ reside in some substance or other and yet words like śukla sometimes express the whiteness in isolation. There is no word which can express this relation in isolation because it is always dependent on something (nityaparatanira). It is nothing more than a certain mutual requirement of two things (saṃbandhinoḥ parasparaunmukhyasvabhāvaḥ). It is a mere attribute (dharma). It has, therefore, no word of its own to express it. It has to be inferred from its effect (kāryaikagamyaḥ).]