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 3.9.80
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 3.9.80:
परतो भिद्यते सर्वमात्मा तु न विकल्पते ।
पर्वतादिस्थितिस्तस्मात् पररूपेण भिद्यते ॥ ८० ॥parato bhidyate sarvamātmā tu na vikalpate |
parvatādisthitistasmāt pararūpeṇa bhidyate || 80 ||80. Everything acquires distinction through other things. In itself, nothing has distinction. The existence of mountains etc. is therefore, diversified through other things.
Commentary
[Everything in the world is measured by other things. Nothing in itself has distinction. All distinction in things is in relation to other things. Even the existence of things like mountains can be spoken of in relation to time. We can say: Mountains existed, exist and will exist. For bringing distinctions in the existence of mountains, we make use of the actions of past, present and future Kings as the basis. The actions of Kings are well-known and so they are used as the basis for diversifying the action of mountains etc.]