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 3.11.4
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 3.11.4:
परत्वे चापरत्वे च भेदे तुल्या श्रुतिर्यथा ।
सङ्ख्याशब्दाभिधेयत्वं भेदहेतोस्तथा गुणे ॥ ४ ॥paratve cāparatve ca bhede tulyā śrutiryathā |
saṅkhyāśabdābhidheyatvaṃ bhedahetostathā guṇe || 4 ||4. Just as the same words (para) and (apara) arc used in regard to distinctions of priority and posteriority (in qualities etc.) in the same way, number which is the cause of distinction with qualities also.
Commentary
How numbers, while inhering in substances, help to differentiate qualities etc. is explained by means of an analogy.
[It is with number as with the notions of prior and posterior. Through association with dik, things are talked of as ‘prior’ or ‘posterior’ or as ‘far’ or ‘near’. Priority and posteriority are thus two qualities in connection with qualities also. But that is a secondary usage. Similarly, distinctions of number in qualities, universals etc. are secondary distinctions.]