Verse 3.14.53

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 3.14.53:

पदं यथैव वृक्षादि विशिष्टेऽर्थे व्यवस्थितम् ।
नीलोत्पलाद्यपि तथा भागाभ्यां वर्तते विना ॥ ५३ ॥

padaṃ yathaiva vṛkṣādi viśiṣṭe'rthe vyavasthitam |
nīlotpalādyapi tathā bhāgābhyāṃ vartate vinā || 53 ||

53. Just as the word vṛkṣa conveys a single particular meaning, in the same way compounds like nīlotpala arc without divisions.

Commentary

[It has been shown before that a word like vṛkṣa has no parts really and that its meaning is also indivisible. Similarly, compounds like rājapuruṣa, nīlotpala have no parts and they denote a single meaning, cognised by a single act of cognition. Parts in a compound are just postulations and they form sentences not far removed from the compound in meaning. In a sentence, the meanings of the different words remain separate. Hence the case-endings connecting them are necessary. Not so in compounds where the meanings merge into each other and become one and so their mutual relation disappears and so do the case-endings which express it. Nor is any particular number understood. What is understood is abhedaikatvasaṃkhyā = “the undifferentiated singular number”. (See Bhartṛhari p,. 384ff). As the meaning of the secondary word is mixed up with that of the primary words, the former cannot be connected with a qualifier outside the compound. In a dvandva, if the word ca is not used it is because the group is more important than the constituents severally. That, in a compound, integration of meaning takes place is the finally accepted view.]

It is now stated that, in some cases, there is not even the usual resemblance between the complex formations and the corresponding sentence.