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 3.14.385
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 3.14.385:
साधारणं ब्रुवन् धर्मं क्वचिदेव व्यवस्थितम् ।
सामान्यवचनः शब्द इति सूत्रेऽपदिश्यते ॥ ३८५ ॥sādhāraṇaṃ bruvan dharmaṃ kvacideva vyavasthitam |
sāmānyavacanaḥ śabda iti sūtre'padiśyate || 385 ||385. In the sūtra (P. 2.1.56.) that word is said to be expressive of the common attribute which presents an attribute existing in one thing as common to another.
Commentary
[A word is said to be expressive of a common attribute even if it does not present it as existing in both the standard and the object of comparison. Even though the word may denote darkness as existing in one thing only, it is inferred as existing in the other also and thus the word becomes expressive of the common attribute.]
According to what has been said above, the common attribute amounts to the universal of the quality (guṇajāti). Even if it is understood as standing for the quality itself, the word expressive of it can be called sāmānyavacana. That is what is explained in the following.