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 3.14.83
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 3.14.83:
सोऽयमित्यभिसंबन्धे लिङ्गोपव्यञ्जनादृते ।
प्रष्ठादिषु न जायैव नियमेन प्रतीयते ॥ ८३ ॥so'yamityabhisaṃbandhe liṅgopavyañjanādṛte |
praṣṭhādiṣu na jāyaiva niyamena pratīyate || 83 ||83. Even if there is the relation of identity, without an element expressive of gender, a word like praṣṭha would not necessarily convey the idea of wife.
Commentary
[According to P. 4. 1. 48, the word praṣṭhī is formed in the sense of ‘wife of praṣṭha’ = ‘leader about to go forth’. Merely by the relation of identity, the word praṣṭha cannot be applied to a woman connected with praṣṭha. Because of the word ākhyāyām, the feminine suffix can be added to the word praṣṭha expressive of the man. If we first add a taddhita suffix in the sense of ‘belonging to’ (tasyedam. P. 4.3.120) to get the meaning of wife, we would prāṣṭha and to that the feminine suffix cannot be added because prāṣṭha is never applied to ‘the leader about to go forth,’ and so the condition mentioned in ākhyāyām is not fulfilled. And so the suffix is added to praṣṭha and we get praṣṭhī which can mean only wife because it is she who normally makes the necessary arrangements when the husband is about to go forth on some business.]