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 3.14.114
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 3.14.114:
दास्याः पतिरिति व्यक्तो गोदाविति च दृश्यते ।
व्यापारभेदः सङ्खयायास्तस्यादेवं व्यवस्थितः ॥ ११४ ॥dāsyāḥ patiriti vyakto godāviti ca dṛśyate |
vyāpārabhedaḥ saṅkhayāyāstasyādevaṃ vyavasthitaḥ || 114 ||114. Dāsyāḥpatiḥ is a clear case and there is also the form godau. Thus diversity of function of this number (abhedaikatva) is established.
Commentary
[The following are illustrations. In dāsyāḥpatiḥ which is a compound, the secondary constituent has the singular number. It is a clear case of abhedaikatva functioning in its own form. Abuse of the husband is understood because of association with dāsī. It is immaterial, therefore, in what casc-ending that word is used. In godau grāmaḥ, proximity to two godas is meant and, therefore, the word is in the dual number and not in the singular due to yuktavadbhāva (extension of the gender and number of the qualified to the qualifier by P. 1.2.51.) The dual number which is included in abhedaikatva comes out in this case. Elsewhere also we see how a number is included in another, though, speaking generally, a number cannot have another number. In the question kati bhavataḥ putrāḥ = ‘how many sons have you?, the word kati which is a word expressive of number includes all numbers. That is why, the answer to this question can be any number. In the same way, all particular numbers are included in abhedaikatva.]
If the secondary constituent expresses its meaning as qualified by the undifferentiated singular, how do we understand duality in words like dviputra = ‘the son of two’?.