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 3.14.218
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 3.14.218:
सामानाधिकरण्यं चेन्मतुब्लोपात् प्रकल्पते ।
मतुपोऽपि तदर्थत्वादनवस्था प्रसज्यते ॥ २१८ ॥sāmānādhikaraṇyaṃ cenmatublopāt prakalpate |
matupo'pi tadarthatvādanavasthā prasajyate || 218 ||218. If it is maintained that the bahuvrīhi is in apposition to the external word expressive of sattva by the elision of the matup suffix (as in the case of words like śukla, there would be regressus ad infinitum because the matup also expresses relation.
Commentary
If the bahuvrīhi expresses the meaning of a case-ending, that is, some relation, it being asattva, how to explain the gender and number of the compound? This difficulty is now stated.
[Read verse 218 above]
[To say that the bahuvrīhi expresses the meaning of a caseending is to say that it expresses a relation, It has been taught in the sense of matup (See M. Bhā. I. p. 424, 1. 17-18,) which also expresses a relation. Unless the compound denotes the related, it cannot take its gender and number. If it is held that the matup expresses the related (sambandhin) then the bahuvrīhi also would do the same and then the view that it expresses the meaning of a case-ending would have to be given up. ]
In śuklaḥ pataḥ, śuklaḥ means not merely the quality white but a ‘white object’ because the suffix matup is supposed to have been elided there. We cannot say the same thing about cilraguḥ because the matup suffix is not added to it at all, as the compound itself denotes the meaning of matup.]
If the bahuvrīhi is said to be formed in the sense of a caseending and if matup is added to it, another difficulty would arise which is now stated.