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 3.14.22
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 3.14.22:
केषाञ्चिज्जातिगुणयोरेकार्थसमवेतयोः ।
वृत्तिः कृष्णतिलेष्विष्टा शब्दे द्रव्याभिधायिनि ॥ २२ ॥keṣāñcijjātiguṇayorekārthasamavetayoḥ |
vṛttiḥ kṛṣṇatileṣviṣṭā śabde dravyābhidhāyini || 22 ||22. According to some who hold that the word conveys substance (individual), the universal and the quality, inhering in the same thing, are found in an integrated manner in the sesame seeds.
Commentary
The appositional relation between meanings is now explained differently.
[Read verse 22 above]
[It can be shown in another way that the appositional relation is between meanings. The two words kṛṣṇa and tila unite to form one word and to convey one meaning. This is possible only if the two meanings, conveyed by the two words, stand towards each other in the relation of viśeṣaṇa and viśeṣya. That does exist here, because the universal and quality co-exist in the same substance. That very thing, characterised by the universal denoted by the word tila and requiring completion, is further characterised by the word kṛṣṇa. The quality conveyed by it is the viśeṣaṇa. The word kṛṣṇa conveys more than quality. It conveys the substance also through quality. If it conveyed quality only, there would be no compound out of these two words. We would get the expression tilasya kṛṣṇaḥ and no compound would be possible. No compound can be formed with a word which denotes pure quality. Previously, the viśeṣaṇa viśeṣya-bhāva relation was explained according to the view that a word denotes substance. The same thing is now explained according to the view that the word denotes the universal. The two words kṛṣṇa and tila do not convey quality and universal without a substratum. Nor can they stand towards each other in the relation of viśeṣaṇa and viśeṣya. Their main purpose is to delimit the substance in which they inhere. They do not directly enter into relation with each other. It is only through the substance in which they inhere that they become related by the viśeṣaṇaviśeṣyabhāva relation.]
It is now stated that where substance is not expressed, but only quality is expressed, there, even though the substance is implied, there is no relation of viśeṣaṇa and viśeṣya, there cannot be a compound of words in apposition.