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 3.14.342
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 3.14.342:
प्राक् च जात्यभिसंबन्धात् सर्वनामाभिधेयता ।
वस्तूपलक्षणाः सत्त्वे प्रयुज्यन्ते त्यदादयः ॥ ३४२ ॥prāk ca jātyabhisaṃbandhāt sarvanāmābhidheyatā |
vastūpalakṣaṇāḥ sattve prayujyante tyadādayaḥ || 342 ||342. Before connection with the universal, a thing can be referred to only by a pronoun. Tyad etc. are used to denote just a thing, in a very general way.
Commentary
[As long as the universal is not superimposed on the substance (individual), the latter is formless. It is the universal which gives it a form and brings it within the range of verbal usage. As long as a thing is not specified by its universal and its own word, no special word can be used in regard to it. It can only be referred to by a pronoun and it would stand for something very general. In order to specify it, the universal has to be superimposed on it and it should be identified with the universal. It is only that it can be referred to by a word expressive of the universal like gauḥ. Because of this identification of the substance with the universal, the former is also expressed primarily and the word gets its gender and number accordingly.]