Verse 3.7.144

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 3.7.144:

भेदाभेदौ पृथग्भावः स्थितिश्चेति विरोधिनः ।
युगपन्न विवक्ष्वन्ते सर्वे धर्मा वलाहके ॥ १४४ ॥

bhedābhedau pṛthagbhāvaḥ sthitiśceti virodhinaḥ |
yugapanna vivakṣvante sarve dharmā valāhake || 144 ||

144. Difference, identity, separation, resting place—these mutually contradictory properties in regard to the cloud are not desired to be conveyed by the speaker at the same time.

Commentary

How one and the same thing becomes a different kāraka is now explained.

[Read verse 144 above]

[If, according to the vārttika: apādānam uttarāṇi (vā. 30 on P. 1.4.1.), the kārakas taught after apādāna supersede it, how do we get expressions like valāhakād vidyotate, valahake vidyotate and valāhako vidyotate where valāhaka is apādāna also. The answer is that it is a question of how the speaker wants to present it. Light is one of the constituents of a cloud. If the speaker wants to present it as different from the cloud, as something coming out of the cloud which is the starting point, then the fifth case-affix would come after the word valāhaka. But it is open to the speaker to present the cloud not as the starting point but as the resting point and say valāhake vidyotate = ‘it flashes in the cloud’. It is also open to the speaker to present the light as identical with the cloud and say valāhako vidyotate = ‘the cloud flashes’. These expressions are used only in turn, according to the speaker’s intention. So they do not go against the vārttika in question.]

It is now going to be shown that the vārttika in question applies when both the powers are meant to be conveyed at the same time.