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 3.14.377
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 3.14.377:
धर्मः समानः श्यामादिरुपमानोपमेययोः ।
आश्रीयमाणप्राधान्यो धर्मेणान्येन भिद्यते ॥ ३७७ ॥dharmaḥ samānaḥ śyāmādirupamānopameyayoḥ |
āśrīyamāṇaprādhānyo dharmeṇānyena bhidyate || 377 ||377. An attribute like darkness, common to the standard and the object of comparison, when thought of as the main thing, is qualified by some other quality.
Commentary
[An attribute like darkness, which ordinarily determines the relation of standard and object of comparison, may be thought of primarily as the object of comparison. Then it would be like a substance and would have to be qualified by some attribute which exists in it and that attribute would bring about the relation of standard and object of comparison.]
An illustration is now given.