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 3.14.250
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 3.14.250:
प्राक् समासात् पदार्थानां निवृत्तिर्द्योत्यते नञा ।
स्वभावतो निवृत्तानां रूपाभेदादलक्षिता ॥ २५० ॥prāk samāsāt padārthānāṃ nivṛttirdyotyate nañā |
svabhāvato nivṛttānāṃ rūpābhedādalakṣitā || 250 ||250. Before entering into the compound the negative particle indicates (dyotyate) the non-existence of things which had naturally ceased to be but which had not been noticed because of identity of form.
Commentary
[In the sentence na stands for negation or non-existence. Negation is never self-sufficient, because it is always negation of something. A thing which actually exists cannot disappear merely by the use of na. Na can only make known the nonexistence or disappearance of something due to other reasons. A word can denote something which does not exist because it has already been established that the meaning of a word is śabdārtha and not vastvartha. The negative particle makes known the meaning of the word associated with it. That is why it is said to be dyotaka, indicative.]