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 3.14.309
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 3.14.309:
निमित्तानुविधाने च क्रियायोगो न कल्पते ।
तथाचाव्यपदेश्यत्वादुपादानमनर्थकम् ॥ ३०९ ॥nimittānuvidhāne ca kriyāyogo na kalpate |
tathācāvyapadeśyatvādupādānamanarthakam || 309 ||309. If the basis is followed up, there would be no connection with an action. Being thus unlit for verbal usage (avyapadeśyatvāt), its inclusion in grammar would be useless.
Commentary
[The basis (nimitta) referred to is the idea of non-existence, non-substance, the meaning of the negative particle. If this is followed up in the compound, the meaning of the latter would not only be incapable of having gender and number, but it could not be connected with action either. There would be no point in teaching a nominal form the meaning of which cannot become the accessory of an action. It would thus become unfit to be grammatically formed. But we do see that negative compounds are connected with verbs expressive of action in a sentence as, for instance, in abrāhmaṇam ānaya, and abrāhmaṇaṃ paśya. The conclusion is that a negative compound denotes substance and can have gender and number because, in it, the basis (nimitta) is not follow up.]
So far the possibility of gender and number in general in a negative compound has been stated as due to the natural power of words. How it acquires a particular gender and number is now explained.